GV 965 
.S6 






^-*;'|J. '^^••'■^iw -.■•':, -':;■ 






•^Siissia^ 



ra 



'i^^ 















:'^; 



■J:'^-<:1' 



Ji«-/*4vA:- 






i^:UM''--:'irS;C:s- 





























^>mm&»mM-^mimw,^im'&^,7i}}m!jm\^]\m;^ym 




ALEX SMITH 
Open Champion of the United States and Western Open Champion 



Lessons in Golf 



ALEX. SMITH 

open Champion, United States 
and Western Open Champion 



Nezv York, Arthur Potto w, 
48 West 2'jth Street 

1907 



sj.^ 



^' 



^ Cj"^ 



rLlBRARYofCONieRESs| 
Two Cooles Received ; 

JUL n i9or ^ 

Copyrizht Entry 

QlKSs/i/t XXCNO. 

'COPY B/ 



Copyright 1907 
iy Arthur Pottow 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Alex Smith ii 

Introduction 17 

First Principles 25 

Stance, Grip and Swing 37 

Off tpie Tee and Through the Green ... 55 

The Short Game 67 

On the Green 85 

Getting Out of Difficulties loi 

Advice to Incurables iii 

A Picture Gallery 123 

The Golf Ball 167 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

(Photographs by T. C. Taniir) 

PAGE 

Alex Smith Frontispiece 

Smith's Clubs i8 

The head inclined a little forward 20 

Turn the body to the right 2^ 

Finish with a half turn to the left 26 

Swing the walking stick around to the right .... 28 

For the down swing 30 

The right wrist turns slightly out 31 

Finish of the right hand swing S3 

-Finish of the left hand swing 35 

Smith's Grip for Driving 38 

Showing Position of Hands at Finish of Drive .... 39 
Smith's Interlocking Grip as He Addresses the Ball for 

Approach Shots 40 

Smith's Interlocking Grip at Finish of Approach Shot . . 41 

Addressing the Ball 44 

Top of Swing 46 

Finish of Swing 47 

Side View, Showing Position of Arms at Top of Swing . . 50 

Showing Turn of Wrists after Club Head has Passed the Ball 52 

Side View of Stance 56 

Showing How Wrist Action is Put in at Top of Swing . . 57 

Incorrect Motion of Shoulders 59 

Stance for Pulled Ball 61 

Body in Front of Ball Causing Poke to Right .... 63 

Finish of Jerk Shot 65 

A Sixty-yard Mashie Shot 68 

High Loft with Mashie 71 

How Niblick Blade Strikes Ball Under Centre . . . . jt, 

How Cleek Blade Strikes Ball at Centre 74 

Loose Wrist Action in Quarter Shot 76 

Stiff Wrist Action in Quarter Shot . -7 

Top of Swing for Chip Shot 78 

The Chip Shot. Taking Turf After the Ball is Struck . . 79 

A Push Approach with Midiron at Sixty Yards .... 83 

Long Putt with Push 87 

Ordinary Putting Stance 89 

Putt with Stop 91 

Curling Around Stymie to Left 94 

Curling Around Stymie to Right . 95 

Lofting a Stymie 97 

Lofting a Stymie 99 



List of Illustrations [Continued) 

Stance for Ball Lying Above You 102 

Stance for Ball Lying Below You 103 

Ball in a Rut 105 

Playing Out of a Bunker 106 

Playing Out of Long Grass 107 

Stance for Wind Dead Against Player ...... 109 

Playing Out of Water no 

Rising on Left Toe and Swaying Body 112 

Falling Back, Weight on Right Foot 114 

Wrong Bending of Left Wrist 115 

Overswnng (At Top) 117 

A Bad Finish it8 

Scooping the Ball with Mashie 120 

The Drive. Top of Swing 125 

The Drive. Finish of Swing. (Side View) 127 

The Drive. Finish of Swing. (Front View) .... 129 

The Drive. Finish of Swing. (Back View) .... 131 

The Cleek. Address 133 

The Cleek. Top of Swing 135 

The Cleek. Finish of Swing. (Side View) . . • . . . 137 

The Cleek. Finish of Swing. (Front View) .... 139 

The Cleek. Finish of Swing. (Back View) .... 141 

The Iron. Top of Swing 143 

The Iron. Finish of Swing. (Side View) 145 

The Iron. Finish of Swing. (Front View) 147 

The Iron. Finish of Swing. (Back View) . . . . . 149 

The Mashie. Address 151 

The jNIashie. Top of Swing 153 

1 he Mashie. Finish of Swing. (Side View) .... 155 

The Mashie. Finish of Swing. (Front View) .... 157 

Stance Against the Wind 159 

Stance for Ball Below the Player 161 

The Niblick. The Address " . . . . 163 

The Niblick. The Finish 165 

Feather Ball 168 

Gutta Percha Balls. Old. Modern 169 

Hand Hammered Balls 170 

Rubber Filling from a Ball 176 

The Anatomy of the Rubber-filled Ball 177 

Silk Pneumatic Ball 180 

Cross Section of Silk Pneumatic Ball 181 

Wall of Spun Silk Thread 182 



ALEX SMITH 

Alex Smith, the open champion of the United States, was 
born in Carnoustie, Forfarshire, Scotland, thirty-three years 
ago. Like all the Carnoustie boys he was in the habit of 
swinging a golf club from his earliest years, and it would 
be impossible to say how old he was when he made his 
first appearance on the links. Realizing that at golf more 
than at any other game practice alone makes perfect, Smith 
devoted himself most assiduously to the game, with the re- 
sult that he attained proficiency at a comparatively early age. 
In 1895 he was placed among the scratch players of his 
club, and in 1896 the committee rated him so highly as to 
put him in that select class who had to allow strokes to the 
scratch players. At one time or another he won most of 
the trophies of his old club. His first big victory was when 
he secured the Gold Cross (scratch) and this was followed 
up by his securing twice in succession the handsome silver 
kettle presented by the Caledonia Club to its sister club on 
its Jubilee in 1892. 

In 1897 he won the Stevenson Cup, a trophy for 
scratch play, having on the full medal course the fine score 
of 79. The Dalhousie Club presented a Jubilee cup to the 
Carnoustie Club, and in the first competition Alex Smith 
went right through the competition to the final, when he 
was defeated. In September, 1897, he succeeded in lowering 
the record for Carnoustie links. For some years it had 
stood at 75 until Smith came in with 74. In many of the 
team matches he distinguished himself. Playing against 
St. Andrew's he had the well-known player, David Leitch, 
as an opponent, and the Carnoustie golfer had Leitch one 
down at the finish, a result which was reversed when they 
met at St. Andrew's. 



12 LESSONS IN GOLF 

For nine years he was with Robert Simpson, the famous 
club maker of Carnoustie, and five of these years he was 
Simpson's foreman, there can therefore be no doubt of his 
abiHty as a club maker. 

Alex Smith came to America in 1898 as professional to 
the Washington Park Club of Chicago, an organization no 
longer in existence. Fred Herd, a brother of Alex. Herd, 
shared the duties of professional with him. The year he landed 
he played in his first American championship, the competi- 
tion being held at the Myopia Hunt Club, Hamilton, Mass., 
which then had a nine-hole course of 2960 yards. The 
Washington Park players carried all before them. Herd 
winning with 328 and Alex Smith being second with 335. 
Smith's best round was a 78. Those who played were 
Willie Anderson, who has turned the tables on him sev- 
eral times since, and who finished third with 336, and Alex's 
brother Willie, who came in fifth with 340. Willie re- 
versed matters at Baltimore next year, winning the open 
championship with 315. Alex Smith was off his game and 
could do no better than TfT,"/. 

The American Open Championship of 1900 was made 
memorable by the presence in it of J. H. Taylor, who was 
then British Open Champion, and Harry Vardon the famous 
English golfer. American golf was entirely overshadowed 
by the performance of the two great English players, Vardon 
being first with 313 and Taylor second with 315. Smith 
on this occasion was not among the leaders. 

In 1901 the Myopia Hunt Club had an eighteen-hole 
course, generally accepted as being the best in the country, 
and in the Open Championship held there Smith greatly dis- 
tinguished himself. Besides good golf he required nerve, and 
neither was wanting. In the last round he needed an 80 
to tie the low score made by Willie Anderson, and it was 
not expected that he would succeed, for no player in the 
competition had returned an 80. However, the old Carnou- 
stie player was equal to the task and so he had to play ofif the 



ALEX SMITH 13 

tie with Anderson. The play-off was at eighteen holes and 
Anderson won with 85 to Smith's 86. 

In 1901 Smith left Washington Park and came East, be- 
ing engaged as professional by the Nassau Country Club, 
of Glen Cove, Long Island, and he has remained with that 
club ever since. It has a very excellent course of full 
length and no doubt some of the improvement manifested 
in Smith's game must be ascribed to the opportunity af- 
forded him of being able to play over so good a green. In 
the 1902 Open Championship at Garden City, which was 
won by Lawrence Auchterlonie with 307, Smith was again 
outside the money with 331. 

In next year's Open Championship at the Baltusrol Golf 
Club, Short Hills, N. J., he did much better, finishing fourth 
with 316. Willie Anderson, the subsequent winner, and 
David Brown tieing for first place with 307. 

1904 was Willie Anderson's year, not Smith's. The 
former player won the Open Chamjpionship at the Glen View 
Club, Chicago, with 303, Smith taking twenty-one strokes 
more. 

In 1905 Smith made a very distinct advance, and gave 
the first unmistakable indication that he was soon to be 
found in that small and select class — the world's great 
golfers. The first Metropolitan Golf Association Open 
Championship was held at the Fox Hills Golf Club, Staten 
Island, N. Y., and it brought out a strong entry list. Smith 
was notable at this tournament not only on account of 
his fine play, but because he used a club having a shaft 
fifty-one inches in length. With this formidable weapon 
he did great execution, as his winning of the championship 
shows, but he abandoned it some time after and was content 
with a shaft forty-six and one-fourth inches in length. He 
was not dissatisfied with the long-shafted clubs. To use 
his own words, he gave them up "simply because they 
were a nuisance to carry around." He and his old rival 
Willie Anderson tied for first place, with 300, great going 



14 LESSONS IN GOLF 

for a difficult course like Fox Hills, and when they came 
to the play-off, fortune for once was on Smith's side. He 
had 74 to Anderson's 76. 

Despite a bad attack of malaria, he did great work in the 
Open Championship at the Myopia Hunt Club a month later. 
Willie Anderson came in first with 314, and Smith was 
second with 316. 

The year 1906 was almost a season of unbroken success 
-for him. He was victorious in almost every competition in 
which he took part, and closed the year with a record such 
as had never been attained by an American golfer. The 
first great open event of the season of 1906 was the Western 
Open Championship, held at the Homewood Country Club, 
Flossmoor, near Chicago, a quite difficult course of 6,144 
yards. On this occasion the National Open Championship 
was to be held at the Onwentsia Club, Lake Forest, near 
Chicago, shortly after the Western Open. This fixture 
brought to Chicago all ■ the leading professionals of the 
country, and as the Western Golf Association allowed them 
to play in the sectional event, it became almost as important 
as the National Open itself. To start with, Smith had a 
bad round for him — an 82 — and Willie Anderson had a 74 — 
so that he was at the beginning of the second round eight 
strokes worse than the man who was then considered the 
greatest golfer in America. His temperament came to the 
rescue, and this with his good golf led to three subsequent 
rounds of 75, 75 and 74 — very brilliant work — and enabled 
him to win the Championship with 306. 

The Open Championship at Onwentsia, a week later, was 
made memorable by Alex Smith winning it in 295, one stroke 
lower than Jack White had at Sandwich in 1904 in winning 
the British Open Championship and constituting a world's 
record for an event of such importance. He played four 
rounds of 7^,, 74, y;^, 75 respectively over a course of 6,107 
vards, the last round being played in a downpour of rain. 



ALEX SMITH 15 

In the first round he had a 7. The card of this perform- 
ance is given : 

THURSDAY 

Morning, out 43444454 4—36 

In - 35743534 3—37—73 

Afternoon, out. 54544443 4—37 

In -- 45544434 4—37—74—147 

FRIDAY 

Morning, out -- 43545334 4—35 

In -- 4 5 5 4 4 4 3 5 4—38—73 

Afternoon, out 54644444 4 — 39 

In 45544523 4—3(^75—148—295 

The Smith family was well in front at Onwentsia. Alex's 
brother Willie was second, with 302, and his brother-in-law, 
James Maiden, tied for third place, at 305, with Lawrence 
Auchterlonie. 

The cream of the Eastern professional talent met in \'an 
Cortlandt Park, New York, in August, in their annual two- 
days' competition. Here again Smith was victorious, 
winning the 72-hole competition with a score of 301, the 
next man having 306. 

By two strokes he was beaten in the Metropolitan Open 
Championship at the Hollywood Golf Club, Long Branch, 
N. J., that fine golfer, George Low, of the Baltusrol Golf 
Club — like Smith a Carnoustie man — winning with 294. 

He closed the season of 1906 with another great victory, 
when he won the championship of the Eastern Professional 
Golfers' Association at the Forest Hill (N. J.) Field Club. 
Smith had 146, and Alex Campbell was second with 149. 

Smith has won the Open Championship of California three 
times, and has recently won the Florida Championship. To 
record all his notable doings would require too much space. 
It is worth mention, however, that he has done his home 
course at Nassau in 66, figures which speak for themselves. 



16 LESSONS IN GOLF 

The score is so extraordinary that the full card, with dis- 
tances, is given: Out — i, 310, 3; 2, 500, 4; 3, 310, 3; 4, 
325, 3; 5; 405, 5; 6, 391, 4; 7, 161, 2; 8, 370, 4; 9, 375, 4. 
Total, 32. In— 10, 390, 4; II, 190, 4; 12, 395, 3; 13, 300, 3; 
14, 392, 5; 15, 443. 4; 16, 360, 4; 17, 140, 4; 18, 280, 3. 
Total, 34. 

Without doubt an equally brilliant career is still before 
him. 



LESSONS IN GOLF 

Introduction 

Let me begin by assuming that the reader of these words 
has never yet taken club in hand. He desires to become a 
golfer; how must he set about it? The obvious answer is 
that he should take lessons from a good professional in- 
structor. That is undoubtedly the surest and best method 
for arriving at results really satisfactory. A competent coach 
quickly sizes up his man ; he discerns his natural capacity 
for the game, and by the aid of precept and example soon 
has him started on the right road. The novice has the 
inestimable advantage of actually seeing how the different 
strokes are played, and, provided that he is mentally and 
physically sound, there is no reason why he should not 
develop an effective game. 

But if this statement is true, why am I writing a book ; 
if the practical method is so much the preferable one, why 
am I putting these lessons down upon paper? This is a 
fair question, and one that I am bound to answer in the 
same spirit. 

I did advise professional instruction, but you will 
note that I qualified the words by the adjective, good. In- 
deed, that makes all the difference between success and 
failure. There are plenty of professionals, who play a good 
game themselves, who are yet utterly incompetent to teach 
anyone else. In the first place, a coach should thoroughly 
know the theory upon which his own game is based; other- 
wise it is obviously impossible to make the pupil understand 
what is required of him. A professional golfer who has 
developed his game according to the instinctive or natural 
method, may play very well without taking any thought 




Smith's clubs, with weights and length, reading from right to left 
Driver, 14 oz., 46J4 in.; Brassey, 15 oz., 45}/^ in.; Spoon, 14'/^ oz. ; 45 in. 
Cleek, 1454 oz., 42^^ in.; Driving Iron, 15 oz., 41 in.; Midiron, 16 oz., 40^ in. 
Mashie, 1514 oz., 39J4 in.; Mashie Niblick, 17J4 oz., 39 in.; Putter, i6>^ oz. 
38 in. 



INTRODUCTION 19 

about it whatever. His muscles do their work automatically, 
and so long as the results are satisfactory, the player of this 
class does not need to bother himself about the why and 
wherefore. He has formed his style imitatively, as does a 
boy, and the less he thinks about it the better. If he should 
go off his game in any particular he is necessarily at a loss, 
and his only remedy is to keep on playing until a kind 
Providence ordains that the lost magic shall return. But 
this rule of thumb business is not going to help the pupil, 
because the latter has never had any game to start with. In 
such case the difficulties simply multiply until both teacher 
and scholar find themselves floundering in an impassable 
slough of despond. 

In the second place, the instructor may be a fine player, 
with a definite idea of the theory of his art, and yet he may 
be quite unable to impart his knowledge to another. He 
cannot pick out the faults into which his pupil is sure to 
fall, much less apply the necessary remedies. In a word, he 
has not the gift of teaching (for it is a gift), and without 
it failure and disappointment are certain. So I say that the 
professional instruction must be good to be of value. 

Now, a boy picks up things, including golf, imitatively, just 
as monkeys do. If the child has a good model he will in- 
stinctively form his own style upon it, and the results will 
be satisfactory. But in the case of our imaginary beginner 
at golf we must assume that he has passed beyond the 
imitative period of boyhood. His intelligence has awak- 
ened ; he has begun to think, and, above all, self-conscious- 
ness has developed. Under these circumstances the appeal 
must be to his mind and not to his muscles. He must 
understand the theory of what he is trying to do if he is 
going to accomplish anything at all. 

Granting, for the sake of argument, that the novice is in 
the adult stage of existence, and living in a place where he 
cannot obtain the aid of a competent instructor, what is he 
to do? Certainly he cannot learn golf by the light of his 




~riE HEAD INCLINED A LITTLE FORWARD AND LOOKING DOWN 



INTRODUCTION 21 

own reason. He may buy a set of clubs and set himself to 
whacking a ball about a ten-acre lot, but the chances are 
not one in a thousand that he will hit upon the right way of 
playing golf. Here and there a genius may work out his own 
salvation, but I am speaking of the ordinary man; he must 
have some sort of guide if he is ever going to find the right 
path. It is for him, then, that these papers are written; a 
statement as straightforward and practical as I know how 
to make it, of the essentials underlying the art of golf. I 
don't pretend to say that the student will be able to make a 
finished golfer out of himself by means of these lessons, 
but he may reasonably expect that by following them he can 
lay the foundations of a sound game. There is everything 
in beginning right. 

By way of further explanation I must point out that golf, 
and good golf, is possible under conditions that superficially 
seem quite at variance. For example, one man plays with 
an upright swing and, another in a style approaching the 
horizontal. Both players get the ball away in masterful 
style and are ranked as class men. Again, take the question 
of stance, by which is meant the position of the player's 
feet in reference to the ball. Mr. Horace Hutchinson draws 
back his right foot and stands with the ball nearly opposite 
the left heel. This is the position recommended in Badmin- 
ton, and is the stance used almost universally by the older 
school of golfers, both professional and amateur. One can- 
not say that the position is unsound, and yet nearly all of 
the leaders nowadays, including Vardon, Taylor, and Braid, 
stand with the right foot advanced, the open position. The 
obvious conclusion would seem to be that the extreme in 
either direction should be avoided. 

Go to a championship meeting and you will see golfers 
playing in what seems to be an infinite diversity of form. 
One player swings back with painstaking deliberation, 
another like a flash of lightning; one man gets his distance 
by means of his arms and body ; another through perfect 



22 LESSONS IN GOLF 

wrist action; here is a player who comes down on the ball 
with the force of a pile-driver, while his partner has the 
careless little flick of a man cutting off a daisy head with a 
riding switch. And yet they all accomplish about the same 
results; one after another the balls leave the tee and come 
to rest two hundred or more yards away straight down the 
fair green. 

Well, what is the conclusion at which we must arrive? 
Is it that golf may be and is played in any old way ? By no 
manner of means. We must look deeper and then we shall 
see that in spite of apparent differences all these styles 
possess certain similarities — the essentials of good golf. 
Granted these essentials and golf is possible under many 
different applications of the basic principles ; ignore them, 
and no golf whatever is the result. 

And so in preparing these lesson papers I have tried to lay 
down the cardinal, the universal, the indispensable principles 
upon which all golf is founded. Naturally, I teach the style 
in which I play myself. If you, Mr. Novice, could come to 
me in person for instruction, I should probably modify my 
theories more or less to suit your particular case. I should 
ask you to swing a club for me that I might size up your 
natural way of getting at the ball. Quite possibly I should 
conclude to develop your game along your characteristic 
lines ; I should certainly not attempt to put you in a strait- 
jacket in order to turn out a slavish and ineffective imitation 
of my own form. But you cannot come to me, and so the 
best I can do is to indicate to you what I have learned from 
my own experience, and trust to your intelligence to assimi- 
late what is really essential and universal. I do say, however, 
that a great deal of rubbish is talked about physical inapti- 
tudes and incapacities — that it is impossible that A should 
play in B's style, or vice versa. So long as a man is not 
positively misformed or abnormal in any one direction he 
ought to be able to learn any sound system of golf. Later 
on, when he has really acquired a game, he can work out his 




TURN THE BODY TO THE RIGHT, STILL KEEPING THE HEAD IN 
ITS ORIGINAL POSITION 



24 LESSONS IN GOLF 

own theories and perhaps improve upon his original tuition. 
The one thing is to acquire the essentials ; the mannerisms 
may be trusted to assert and take care of themselves. A 
theory must first be thoroughly understood before we can 
venture to improve upon it. 

In the practical application of these lessons I would sug- 
gest working in pairs. By himself the beginner is apt to 
get wrong impressions of what he is doing; he may think 
that he is faithfully following out the directions given in 
the text, while he is really misunderstanding them either in 
whole or in part. This caution applies particularly to the 
preliminary exercises for stance, grip and swing. It is not 
a sufficient guarantee against error to practise before a 
looking-glass, as one cannot judge with accuracy from a 
reflection, and the first principle of golf is to keep the eye on 
the ball. Let your fellow-student follow the text, diagrams, 
and illustrations while you are doing the thing itself. He 
is in the position of the coach to point out and correct the 
mistakes, and in turn you can perform the same kindly office 
for him. Two minds, and especially two pairs of eyes, are 
better than one. 

One final admonition : Don't exaggerate any one point at 
the expense of everything else. It is a common tendency 
with beginners at golf to imagine that the whole secret lies 
in this or that little detail — the bend of an elbow, the turn 
of a hand, the position of a foot. This is an error. The 
true golf swing is built up from many small details into a 
symmetrical whole, and conscious exaggeration in any one 
direction may throw the entire mechanism out of adjust- 
ment. I shall try to make you understand what is really 
important and indispensable and the rest you may leave to 
nature. Don't trust to nostrums or cure-alls, particularly 
those of your own invention. Golf is a science and not a 
bag of tricks. And now, if you please, we will get at the 
business in hand. 



LESSON I 

First Pr'niciples 

The first idea of the beginner is to provide himself with a 
full set of clubs ; generally, he goes to some department store, 
where an obliging clerk speedily loads him up with an 
expensive assortment of wooden and iron furniture, called 
golf clubs by courtesy. A far better plan is to consult your 
local clubmaker, since he will at least have some faint idea 
of fitting you to your tools and so save you both time and 
money. If there be no such professional adviser available, 
you can almost certainly find some golf-playing friend who 
will go with }0U to the shop and help you make a selection. 
Should you be obliged to rely on your own judgment, I can 
only advise you to avoid clubs that are on the freak order 
and also extremes in length or weight. The illustration 
shows my own playing set, together with their measurements, 
but you will note that I am a fairly powerful man — 5 ft.95^ in. 
in height, and weighing 170 pounds. You will perhaps do 
better to pick out a driver of from 42 to 44 inches in length 
and weighing 12^ ounces, with the other clubs in proportion. 
Be particular about the shafts. That of the driver may 
have a little whip in it, so long as the spring is not under the 
grip, but well down towards the socket. The shaft of the 
brassey and cleek should be a bit stififer and the wood of the 
other iron clubs should have no spring whatever. A great 
point is balance, and that is a quality impossible to describe 
on paper. Perhaps you know what it is in a gun, a fishing 
rod or a tennis racket, and it is equally indispensable in a 
golf club. The factories turn out the machine-made clubs in 
enormous quantities and do not put them together with the 
careful skill and intelligence of the good clubmaker. In 
consequence, many of these clubs have no balance at all and 




FINISH WITH A HALF TURX TO THE LEFT 



FIRST PRINCIPLES 27 

are worse than useless. The ckib must feel to your hand 
as though it would play, and remember that a good shaft 
is much harder to find than a passable head. I don't believe 
in light clubs. Of course, I don't mean that you should 
overclub yourself, and if your wrists are exceptionally weak 
you may have to humor them at first. As heavy a club as 
you can swing with comfort ; later on I will explain why. 

For a first set you will need a driver, a brassey, a cleek, 
a midiron, a niblick, and a putter. The salesman will un- 
doubtedly tell you that a mashie is the one indispensable club 
in any golfer's kit, but for your first practise and initial 
rounds I should prefer that you use the midiron for your 
approaches. The mashie is one of the most difficult of clubs 
to use effectively ; indeed, its proper handling is an art in 
itself. Top a ball with a mashie and it runs like a prairie 
fire. INIoreover, all heavily lofted clubs have an innate 
tendency to hook the ball, by which I mean causing it to 
swerve to the left of the line of play. The midiron is laid 
back quite far enough to enable you to get over any ordinary 
obstacle, and its straight face is an aid to direction. Later 
on you can take up the mashie and grapple with the finer 
mysteries of the lofted approach. 

The brassey should be as close a duplicate as possible of 
the driver ; indeed, it differs only in having a brass plate 
screwed on its sole and in being slightly laid back or lofted. 
I prefer short-headed wooden clubs, as the weight is thereby 
kept close behind the ball, where it will do the most good. 
The face should be fairly deep. The old-fashioned drivers 
and brasseys, such as I used when a boy on Carnoustie links, 
were beautiful tools with which to pick up a ball, but their 
skying tendencies have put them out of the modern play. 

I recommend the cleek and not the driving mashie, 
which is its ordinary substitute in many a golfer's bag. 
People will tell you that they cannot play with a cleek. The 
answer to such nonsense is— learn, then. The cleek is, 
indeed, a difficult club to master, but it is well worth the 




SWING THE WAI.KING STICK AROUND TO THE RICH' 



FIRST PRINCIPLES 29 

trouble, and no man can call himself a golfer unless he can 
use it. But don't begin with it on the teeing ground because 
it looks easier to handle than a wooden club. Properly, the 
cleek is only used through the green with the one exception 
of the short hole whose distance corresponds to its normal 
range. 

Midirons are pretty much of a pattern ; yours should be 
fairly heavy, with a stiff shaft. The best niblicks have a 
broad-lipped sole and plenty of weight. 

You may suit your own fancy in putters — goose-neck, 
putting cleek, or the old-fashioned models in alumimmi or 
wood. I don't think much of the iron putter proper, with its 
perfectly straight socket and upright face; nowadays they 
are generally made of gun metal and are used chiefly by 
ladies. Be sure that your putter, of whatever style, is on 
the heavy side ; a light-headed club is useless on the greenr^. 

You will need half a dozen balls and a sponge-cup for 
cleaning them. A white ball is pleasanter to play with than 
a dirty one, and I think it is easier to hit. In an important 
match it always gives one a feeling of fresh confidence to 
put down a new ball, and the next best thing is a clean one. 

If your hands are tender, inclined to become blistered or 
calloused, you may need gloves. But only the one for the 
left hand is really necessary, as you will soon discover for 
yourself. A glove on the right hand interferes more or less 
with the sense of touch, particularly in putting. 

At last we are ready to begin, but we are not yet prepared 
to play our first round ; indeed, I will ask you to let your 
clubs stay in the bag until you have mastered a simple 
exercise or two. For I have now to impress upon your mind 
one of the prime essentials of good play. 

It sounds very simple — keep your head steady. But in 
practise it isn't so easy. The natural inclination is to let the 
body follow the club in the up swing, and of course the head 
goes with it. This swaying to the right is a common fault 
of the beginner, and it is quite the worst one that he can 




FOR THE DOWN SWING IMAGINE YOU ARE EXECUTING THE 
ORDINARY BACK-HAND STROKE AT TENNIS 




THE RIGHT WRIST TURNS SLIGHTLY OUT 



32 LESSONS IN GOLF 

commit. It keeps the body from entering properly into the 
stroke and as the arc of the circle in which the club head 
swings is constantly changing, accurate hitting is rendered 
impossible. It may be laid down as an indispensable prin- 
ciple that the body turns only upon its vertical axis through- 
out the stroke, while the head is kept virtually stationary. 
To make you understand this I am going to give you a 
"setting up" exercise, as they call it in the army. 

Draw a chalk line on the floor or ground and stand with 
the left toe just touching the line and the right foot half way 
across it. Let the knees be slightly bent, as this will throw 
the weight back upon the heels where it ought to be. The feet 
should not be too near together nor too wide apart, and 
both toes should be turned out. Let the arms fall naturally 
at the side with the head inclined a little forward and looking 
down. 

Now turn the body to the right, still keeping the head in 
its original position. After you have made about a quarter 
turn you will not be able to go further with any comfort 
unless you do one of two things — either you must sway to 
the right or you must ease off the strain on the left leg. The 
first is wrong, the second right; but you will not get the 
correct idea by simply rising on the left toe. The proper 
motion is to let the left knee knuckle in towards the right leg. 
This will naturally drag the left heel off the ground and so 
permit the body to make a half turn to the right and still 
maintain its perpendicularity. The swing to the right 
properly ends when the left shoulder faces squarely to the 
front. The rest of the exercise is very simple. From the 
extreme position to the right bring the body back to its 
original stance and then finish with a half turn to the left. 
As the body turns back the left heel naturally finds the floor 
and the right one rises with the half turn to the left. And 
all this time the head has been kept as immovable as possible, 
with the eyes fixed on the floor. There is nothing difficult 
about this exercise ; it can be acquired perfectly in five 




FINISH OF THE RIGHT HAND SWING 



34 LESSONS IN GOLF 

minutes, but it is most important as tending to impress upon 
your mind the absolute necessity of keeping the head sta- 
tionary. 

A second essential is the proper wrist action. At last you 
think I am going to let you take a club in hand, but please 
have patience. I first want to give you a left hand and then 
a right hand exercise, and for this purpose a crook-handled 
walking stick or rolled-up umbrella (also with a crook 
handle) is better, as being lighter than a club, and so more 
easily managed. 

Take the same stance as indicated for the "setting up" 
exercise and grasp the cane or umbrella by its lower end, 
so that the crook handle serves in place of the ch:b head. 
Let the left thumb lie on top of the shaft and straight down 
it. This Avill insure the proper grip, with the back of the 
hand well over. 

Swing the walking stick around to the right, aiming at 
the point of the right shoulder. The left wrist will properly 
turn in slightly (towards the body) so that when the stick is 
well up the left arm will be lying close to the chest and 
you can see the full back of the left hand. The motion is so 
simple that you can hardly go wrong in it. For the down 
swing imagine that you are executing the ordinary back- 
hand stroke at tennis. You will soon discover that it is this 
slight inward turn of the left wrist that gives the power and 
snap to the stroke, and that is all that there is in it. 

Now for the right hand exercise. Grasp the shaft in 
such a way that you can just see the nails of the right hand, 
and hold the stick as much as possible in the fingers. In this 
right hand grip the thumb should be around the shaft — not 
on top of it — and the holding power will be secured by 
jamming the shaft between the thumb and forefinger. You 
will be surprised to see how much of a grip you can obtain 
by holding the club in this finger fashion rather than sunk 
in the palm of the hand. 




FINISH OF THE LEFT HAND SWING 



36 LESSONS IN GOLF 

Now, in the swing back, pay particular attention to the 
point of the right elbow. It should not swing straight out 
and up from 3^our body, but around it and as close to the 
side as possible. The right wrist turns slightly out, so that at 
the top of the swing you still see the finger nails of your right 
hand. The chief thing in this exercise is to keep the point of 
the right elbow down and close to the side, and to swing 
it around the body in a backward direction. The reason 
why I will give in the proper place. 

There should be enough in this series of movements to 
occupy your attention for the first afternoon of practise. 
These exercises are not very amusing, perhaps, but they are 
worth acquiring perfectly in order to prepare for your real 
start. A little hard, conscientious work now will save you 
many future hours of blundering and disappointment. And 
remember my suggestion, that you practise in company with 
a partner or fellow-student. 



LESSON II 

Stance, Grip, and Swing 

We are now ready for the two-handed swing with the 
driver. Take up your stance, as already directed, with the 
left toe just touching the chalk line, and the right foot half 
way across it. This is the open position, so called, and it 
is the one used by the vast majority of modern players. 
There are some golfers who stand with the toe of the right 
foot two or three inches back of the line, and a still smaller 
number whose stance is exactly square, that is, with the toes 
of both feet touching the line. The open position, which I 
strongly recommend, permits a free follow-through of the 
club, and the player has a feeling that he knows where he is 
going to drive the ball. Another advantage is that over- 
swinging is checked, to a great extent, and the beginner 
is very apt to commit this fault in striving after what he 
imagines to be a full St. Andrew's swing. 

The grip is taken as follows : Grasp the club in the left 
hand, letting the thumb lie on the top of the shaft directly 
in the middle. Now shift the thumb so that it coils around 
the club handle but rests on the nail of the forefinger. This 
is a somewhat tuiusual position for the thumb, but I favor 
it for the reason that it permits the two hands to be brought 
closer together. If the thumb simply curls itself around the 
shaft, its knuckle prevents the right hand from snugging 
close up to its fellow. It is important to get the hands to 
work, as nearly as possible, as one, and this can only be done 
by getting them together. So much for the grip with the 
left hand. 

Now place the right-hand on the shaft directly below the 
upper or left hand, and gently pressed against it. The right 
hand should be turned somewhat under the shaft, so that 



38 LESSONS IN GOLF 

you can see the finger nails. This is what is called the 
unequal grip, the left hand being well over the shaft and the 
right hand a trifle under. It is the grip generally used by 
reformed cricketers in England and by old baseball players 




.SMITHS GRIP FOR DRIVING 

in this country, and at one time it was considered quite 
unorthodox. My argument is that the underneath position 
of the right hand permits of a more effective wrist action, 
and also brings into play the muscles of the right forearm, 
which means driving power. Of course, it has its disad- 



STANCE, CRIP AND SWINC 39 

vantages as well. If the right hand is allowed to entirely 
overpower the left, a pull, or worse yet, a hook, may send 
your ball to the left of the true line of play. Be careful, then, 
not to exaggerate the position. 

There is another grip which I ought to describe, seeing 
that it is used by some of the foremost players in the world, 




SHOWING POSITION OF HANDS AT FINISH OF DRIVE 

including Taylor, Braid, and Vardon, and indeed, I use it 
myself for all my approach work. It is known as the over- 
lapping grip, and may be described as follows : 

Take the club in the left hand, just as you did in the first 
place, but let the thumb remain in position on top of the 
shaft. Slide the right hand partly over the left so that the 
little finger of the right hand rides upon the forefinger of the 



40 



LESSONS IN COLF 



left. In this grip the right hand is generally more over the 
shaft than in the cricket grip already described ; in other 
words, you see the back of the right hand and not the finger- 
nails. The left thumb is entirely covered by the right palm ; 




SMITH S INTERLOCKING GRIP AS HE ADDRESSES THE BALL 
FOR APPROACH SHOTS 



the right thumb may either coil about the grip or lie on the 
top, straight down the shaft. For my approach work I 
prefer the latter position as tending to greater accuracy. 



STANCE, CRIP AND SIV/NC 



4! 



There is no doubt about it that this overlapping grip gives 
the player great command over the club, as it prevents the 
possibility of the two wrists working against each other. 




SMITH S INTERLOCKING GRIP AT FINISH OF APPROACH SHOT 



This is the rea:son why I use it in my short iron work, but I 
prefer my ordinary grip for all full shots. After giving the 



42 LESSONS IN GOLF 

overlapping- grip a fair trial I have convinced myself that 
the other has more driving power in it. Vardon himself 
admits that he gets a longer ball with the ordinary, or "V" 
grip, but he thinks that he can keep straighter in the over- 
lapping style. My experience is that I can control the ball 
quite as well with the "V" grip, and I can unquestionably 
hit harder, and so get farther. And distance is what we 
want in the long game. I ask you, therefore, to give the 
cricket grip a trial, and I hope to tell you how to keep 
straight with it. As we shall learn the overlapping grip 
anyway for the short game, you can later on decide for 
yourself whether or not you will use it altogether. Once 
acquired it is perfectly easy to use both grips interchange- 
ably. Let me add that with either grip the club should be 
held as much in the fingers as possible, and this admonition 
particularly applies to the right hand. Under no circum- 
stances should the shaft be buried in the right palm. It only 
remains to add that I hold the club, for all full shots, with the 
left hand at the extreme end of the shaft. Otherwise you 
are simply depriving yourself of valuable leverage ; other 
things being equal, it is the longer shaft that drives the 
longer ball. 

For the present Ave will not put down a ball, for I want 
you to practice the two-handed swing before you attempt 
actual driving. But you must have something to aim at, so 
you may pick out a daisy head or use a bit of white paper 
to represent the ball. Notice that the latter's position is 
about three inches to the right of an imaginary line drawn 
from the left heel to the right-angled line of play on which 
the ball is resting. I do not tell you in actual inches how 
far away you must stand, nor give you any empirical rules 
of measurement by means of the club or otherwise. It must 
appear evident that the proper distance away will vary for 
every individual case. All I can tell you is to stand with 
the knees and elbows slightly flexed and the club laid 
squarely behind the ball. You should feel comfortable, and 



STANCE, GRIP AND SWING 43 

this you cannot be if yon are under or over reached. If 
you stand too near, the stroke will lack power ; if too far 
away, you will not be able to keep your balance. With both 
knees and elbows slightly bent you cannot be far out of the 
correct position. 

I cannot tell you again just how wide apart your feet 
should be. A straddle that is too narrow tends to over- 
swinging, and one that is too wide stiffens the stroke and 
prevents proper hip action. Use )'our common sense and 
adopt the golden mean. 

One final admonition — keep both toes turned slightly out- 
ward, as this is an aid to the proper balancing of the body. 
And remember to keep the weight well on the heels. 

Now recall your exercises for the right and left hand with 
the walking stick or umbrella. The important thing with the 
left hand was to turn the wrist slightly in towards the body 
as the club went back, while with the right you were to let 
the point of the right elboyv swing back around the body 
close to the side. Start the club with the wrists or rather 
with the fingers of the right hand, and then let the arms 
come in to help with the swing. The club will have gone 
far enough back when your left arm presses gently against 
the chest. This is not a full swing, for you have not found 
it necessary to lift the left heel clear of the ground. Indeed, 
it is little more than a half swing, but if your wrists have 
worked properly and the right elbow has begun to swing 
back, there is considerable power in it. You will notice 
that I have not told you to bother about the line in which 
the club head is taken back. That will take care of itself, 
provided that the right elbow swings around and close to the 
side. J. H. Taylor puts great stress upon this movement of 
the right elbow, and says that without it his swing would lack 
power. He does not give the reason why, but I have a 
theory of my own on this point, and I may as well enunciate 
it now. 




ADDRESSING THE BALL 



STANCE, CRIP AND SWINC 45 

All the old authorities and text-books will tell you that in 
the down swing the left is the master hand ; that it should 
pull the club down from its position at the top of the swing. 
This I believe to be quite wrong, at least for my grip and 
swing. My theory is that the power of the down swing 
comes from what I call the "throw of the club." If the 
club is started by a left hand pull it is apt to come down too 
straight, and the arc described by the club head will approxi- 
mate that of a true circle. Moreover, with the left hand in 
command, the left elbow swings away from the body as the 
club comes through and the effect is to cause a depression of 
the right shoulder, which means an instant loss of power, 
for the ball is whipped up into the air instead of being driven 
straight through. 

Now, the true course of the club head in all full driving 
shots is that of the slightly flattened circle — an ellipse, if you 
want to use the mathematical term. All the doctors agree 
on this latter point, and the only difference is the method 
by which they make the club head travel in this slightly 
flattened circle. The usual explanation is that the circle is 
swept back in this elliptical curve in the up-swing, or rather 
it must be if the down-swing is to take the same course. The 
older treatises, such as Badminton, expressly taught that the 
club must be taken back as close to the ground as possible, 
and in a direction that was the backward prolongation of the 
ball's line of flight. The club was swung out and away 
from the body and in consequence the swing was nearly 
perpendicular. Now, the modern practice, with the open 
stance, or the right foot advanced, does not permit of 
an upright or perpendicular swing. The movement, as I 
have described it to you, more nearly approaches the hori- 
zontal. If you swing back the right elbow the club head 
must travel around the right leg and the player cannot stretcli 
out his arms in order to let the club head "sweep back as 
close to the ground as possible." Of course the new school' 
players do not lift the club straight up as they swing back ; 




TOP OF SWING 




FINISH OF SWING 



48 LESSONS IN GOLF 

otherwise they would be chopping at the ball. They secure 
the flattened arc of the true swing by the backward move- 
ment of the right elbow. Try it for yourself and you will see 
the difference at once. With the right elbow moving out 
from the body the club is taken up very much straighter 
than when the elbow moves back, keeping close to the side. 
This is one reason, then, for Taylor's insistence upon the 
importance of this point. Its second office is to create 
driving power, and this is secured by what I have called 
the "throw of the club." To make you understand what I 
mean, it will be necessary to resume our exercise in swing- 
ing. I told you to stop the back or up-swing of the club so 
soon as you felt the left arm gently pressed against the chest. 
I did not ask you to swing down again, for the exercise was 
intended merely to accustom you to the proper starting of 
the club and to ensure that the wrists were working properly. 
We will now go a little further. 

Start as before, the right fingers beginning the backward 
swing and the arms joining in as they are needed. As the 
club swings farther back and up you will have to turn your 
body to the right, and to accomplish this the left knee will 
knuckle in towards the right leg and the left heel will be 
pulled a little way off the ground. Remember your "setting 
up" exercise and be sure that you keep the^ody in a vertical 
position, with the head looking downward, and not moving 
by a hair's breadth to the right. Again I remind you that 
the knees should be bent a little, so as to throw the weight 
on the heels, and the arms should be slightly flexed at the 
elbows. Otherwise the stiffened arms will form one straight 
line with the club shaft, which is wrong. 

When the riglit elbow has swung as far back as it con- 
veniently can, the club will be nearly perpendicular, pointing 
vertically to the sky. Now bend both wrists sharply towards 
the point of your right shoulder and the club will then be in 
a horizontal position behind your neck. You will under- 
stand, of course, that in the actual swing there should be no 



STANCE, CRIP AND SWINC 49 

distinct divisions in this up-swing, the different movements 
all blending into one harmonious whole. There should be 
nothing like a break in the swing at any point of its progress. 

It will be well to stop here at the top of the swing to see if 
the wrists have been properly turned. With the club firmly 
held in its horizontal position back of the neck, drop the 
right hand from the grip. You will then be able to look 
around at the club head. Its toe ought to be pointing to the 
ground like a pear hanging from a branch. To give you 
a more definite guide, notice the maker's name on the club 
head. It ought to be about horizontal as you look at it. If 
the wrist action has been wrong the toe of the club at the 
top of the swing will be pointing not downward, but side- 
ways, and the maker's name will be nearer the vertical than 
the horizontal. 

This should be plain enough, but a caution is necessary. 
It is quite possible to exaggerate the turn of the wrists to 
such an extent as to lose all leverage from them. In this 
case the club head will be, apparently, in the proper position, 
but there will be no power left in the wrists for the down- 
swing. The wrists must turn, but they must be kept 
"creamed-up," to use an English expression. If you allow 
them to become slack and flabby from overturning, you will 
have no leverage for the "throw of the club." 

I told you that near the top of the swing the wrists must 
be bent sharply towards the right shoulder. (Note that this 
bending is different from the turning of the wrists.) In 
this way you set the trigger for the "throw of the club" — 
you feel the weight of the club head poised for the down- 
ward sweep. If you allow the wrists to become too slack, 
you inevitably overswing and so lose the sense of the set 
trigger, and the club head becomes a dead weight which 
must be lifted back to its proper position before you can use 
it. At this point both wrists will be under the shaft, their 
proper position. 




SIDE VIEW, SHOWING POSITION OF ARMS AT TOP OF SWING 



STANCE, CRIP AND SIVINC 51 

With the right elbow well to the back and close to the 
side you must now reverse this inward bend of the wrists. 
Throw them back and out as sharply as possible, and when 
the club head is some two feet away from the ball let the 
right wrist take command. This is the ''throw of the club" 
and upon its. proper execution depends in great measure the 
power and accuracy of the stroke. 

One further point, and a most important one, although 
I have never seen it brought out in any of the previous text- 
books. 

As the club comes down on the ball, do not allow the left 
elbow to swing out and away from the body. It must be 
kept back so as to allow of the "snap of the wrists" at the 
critical moment when the ball is struck. If the left elbow 
swings away an instant too soon the hands go through in 
advance of the club head and the result is either a slice or a 
loss of power. A favorite phrase nowadays is "timing the 
club," by which is meant the securing of the full power of 
wrists, arms and body at the moment when the actual hit is 
made. The phrase is a good one, but unless the coach can 
explain how to bring about this desirable result the mere 
words will not help the beginner much. My theory is that 
this "timing" is dependent upon keeping back the left elbow, 
thereby enabling the full force of the stroke to be brought 
into the ball. 

The books place great emphasis upon the finish of the 
stroke — the "follow-through," as it is called — and the be- 
ginner is assured that unless he can get his arms to reach out 
after the ball the stroke will be a failure. This is a rock 
upon which untold myriads of golfers have foundered, and 
so perished miserably. 

Now, at the risk of being pronounced hopelessly hetero- 
dox, I am going to tell you that you need not bother about 
the follow-on at all. In my theory of the swing the power 
of the stroke depends on proper hip rotation, the correct 
turning of the wrists, and the position of the elbows. Pro- 




SHOWING TURN OF WRISTS AFTER CLUB HEAD HAS PASSED 
THE BALL 



STANCE, CRIP AND SWINC 53 

vided, that the right elbow moves around and close to the 
body on the up-swing and the left elbow is kept close to the 
body until after the ball is struck, the stroke will be a power- 
ful and accurate one, the arms finishing as shown in the 
illustration. 

To avoid possible misunderstanding, let me say again that 
my method is not the only one in which golf may be played. 
A firm distinction must be made between the two schools 
of swinging — perpendicular and horizontal. If a man plays 
with an upright swing, then of necessity his stance will be 
with the right foot drawn back ; the club head will be carried 
back in a long sweep close to the ground ; the right elbow 
will swing up and away from the body; the club will be 
pulled down by the left arm and both arms will be stretched 
out in the direction of the ball's flight — the follow-through. 
But if you adopt the horizontal swing, which is the modern 
practice, and best exemplified in the play of J. H. Taylor, 
you must do none of these things. The club goes back 
around the right leg ; it is thrown down by the power of the 
wrists, particularly the right one, and the right elbow is 
kept close to the body on the up-swing, with the left one 
held back until after the impact. The perpendicular style 
is more of a sweep ; the horizontal rather in the nature of a 
hit. Concentration of force is the characteristic of the hori- 
zontal swing, and if you have ever seen J. H. Taylor play 
you will understand what I mean. There is no wandering 
away of club head, arms or elbows. Everything is kept 
under severe control, but not an ounce of power is wasted 
or misapplied. The old-fashioned loose-jointed style of 
swiping at the ball is very pretty to watch, but it is an art 
that can only be learned imitatively and in youth. 

It will be well in practising the full swing to stand with 
the sun directly at your back. You will then be able to 
detect any sidewise movement of the body or head, particu- 
larly to the right. Accuracy depends upon keeping the body 
strictly perpendicular, and the head as immovable as pos- 
sible. ~^ ^~ 



54 LESSONS IN GOLF 

The rotation of the body should come from the hips rather 
than from the shoulders. Otherwise you will be apt to 
move the head or depress the right shoulder, and either fault 
inevitably spoils the stroke. 

Our preliminary practice has been long and arduous, bvit 
have patience. In our next lesson we will get out upon the 
teeing ground with the real ball at our feet. 



LESSON III 

Off the Tee and Through the Green 

Now we are on the teeing ground and ready for business. 
I don't mean, of course, that we shall start in at once to play 
matches. That sort of thing is bad practice, or rather no 
practice at all, and our aim should rather be to learn some- 
thing about the different strokes that make up the actual 
game. 

The full drive is naturally our point of departure. There 
are people who aft'ect to sneer at long driving, and who will 
tell you that the real science of golf lies altogether in the 
approaching and putting. It is quite true that no one can 
win many matches unless he plays the short game well, but 
good driving makes the approaching and putting easier; 
I need not enlarge upon a truism so obvious. 

Again, driving is said to be the easiest department of the 
game. So it is when you learn how. But unless you start 
doing the right thing you may foozle along for years un- 
numbered, ever searching for the magic secret and never 
finding it. I don't know of a harder or more hopeless 
task than that of the bungler who habitually misplays all 
his full shots. A top, a slice, a clean miss — what vexation 
of soul is not summed up in these simple words ! There are 
some duffers who, by virtue of perseverance and a naturally 
good eye, manage to evolve what they call their drive. They 
may even achieve a kind of steadiness, but it is invariably at 
the expense of length. And distance does count, no matter 
how expert you may be on the putting green. Moreover, 
full free driving off the tee and through the green is one 
of the most pleasurable sensations of the game ; indeed, 
there are few things in the world that can compare with the 
joy that animates the golfer's heart when he has just got 




SIDE VIEW OF STANCE 



OFF THE TEE AND THROUGH THE GREEN 57 

off a clean bow-shaped raker straight down the course. 
Without good driving there is no golf. 

Let me briefly recapitulate the essentials of a correct 
swing. 

A comfortable distance from the ball ; right foot slightly 
advanced ; knees and elbows a little bent ; body kept vertical, 
and head steady; left hand over the grip and right hand 




SHOWING HOW WRIST ACTION IS PUT-IN AT TOP OF SWING 



under ; the club taken back by the fingers of the right hand ; 
right elbow swinging round close to the body ; wrists turning 
inward and then bent sharply back to bring the club to the 
horizontal behind the neck; the body turning from the hips 
with the left knee knuckling in towards its fellow; left heel 
slightly raised so as to ease the body around ; the wrists 
flung down to start the downward swing, with the right 
hand in control ; arms and body following ; the right wrist 



58 LESSONS IN GOLF 

putting in the power and turning slightly over at the 
moment of impact; the left arm keeping close to the body 
until taken out by the club ; the swing finishing with a full 
sweep around the left shoulder ; body turning to full front 
with the right knee knuckling into the left one and the right 
heel clear of the ground — that is the golfing swing so far 
as words may depict it. 

Most of these directions I have already commented upon ; 
there are one or two upon which I should like to add a 
word. 

As the club swings up, I told you that the wrists must 
turn inward and then bend sharply back. Now, the common 
and easy and incorrect way of getting the club behind the 
neck is to bend the elbows and pull in the hands. If you do 
this you will invariably swing too far with your shoulders, 
and the swing will lack both power and accuracy. So keep 
the left elbow fairly extended and get the club around by 
bending back the wrists. You will thus set the trigger for 
what I elsewhere call the "throw of the club," the turn over 
of the right wrist at the moment of striking the ball. 

I wish that you could see me drive a ball, for then it 
would be a much simpler thing to explain my management 
of the right forearm and wrist. My normal drive is rather 
low, rising very gradually from the tee. Its direction is 
to the right of the centre of the course, but during the last 
portion of its flight it begins to curve in a little and falls 
straight in line. In other words, it is a ball with just a touch 
of pull, i. c, a curve to the left. Under all ordinary cir- 
cumstances this is the ball that I always try to get, and 
for the following reasons : 

In the first place, a pulled ball, by virtue of its over-spin, 
has a much longer run than any other, a manifest advantage. 
Secondly, a pulled ball is the direct opposite of a sliced one, 
and every golfer knows that a slice invariably means trouble, 
if it is only loss of distance. Now, the man who normally 
tries for a perfectly straight ball is apt to drive a little higher 




INCORRECT MOTION OF SHOULDERS 



60 LESSONS IN GOLF 

than is good for distance, especially against the wind, and 
the slightest drawing in of the hands turns the straight ball 
into a sliced one, by which is meant curving to the right of 
the true line. If a man invariably plays for a pull, he 
may not always get it, but he will, at least, save himself 
from slicing. If the pull does not come ofif, the ball either 
goes perfectly straight, or comes to rest a little to the right 
of the middle of the course. There is still a respectable 
distance gained, and the ball is seldom off the fair green. 
In other words, slicing is the worst of golfing faults, and the 
one to be avoided most sedulously. The books enter into 
learned theories upon the causes of slicing and how to cure 
it. I prefer to play for a pull, and so avoid its possibility 
altogether. Once acquired, the pulled ball is even easier to 
control than a straight one, and, as I have said, it is the 
longest one that can be driven. Only once in a blue moon 
will a golfer need to slice a ball intentionally, and while it 
is a very scientific and pretty play, it is better to eschew such 
niceties until one is very sure of his ability to control his 
swing. Scientific slicing depends largely upon drawing in 
the arms, as the club comes down, so as to put a cut on 
the ball. Now, this drawing in of the arms is a fatally natural 
movement, and it is unwise to encourage the tendency. 

Playing, then, as I do, for a pull, I stand with the right 
foot slightly advanced, the ball nearer my left foot than my 
right, the right hand gripping under the shaft, and the 
right wrist turning quickly over as the ball is struck. These 
are the conditions upon which all authorities agree as con- 
ducive to the pulled shot, and, as I have said, it is my 
normal method of play. 

I acknowledge that I am what is called a right-handed 
player, but I am so deliberately, and because I believe that 
it yields me the best results. The left arm, according to 
my theory, merely assists in the guiding of the club. It 
does not start the stroke by pulling the club down, still less 
does it take command of the stroke at any time. I am 




STANCE FOR PULLED BALL 



62 LESSONS IN COLF 

not conscious of relaxing my grip at either the top or the 
finish of the swing. I grip with both hands firmly from 
beginning- to end, and I consider that distance depends, in 
large measvire, upon the way the wrists, and especially the 
right one, come into the stroke at the moment of hitting. 
This, at least, is my theory. 

Don't make a high tee, and don't make a careless one. 
A small pinch of sand is quite enough, and you only want to 
elevate the ball sufficiently to let the club head meet it 
squarely. It is not easier, but more difficult to hit cleanly 
when the ball is perched up at an unnatural distance from 
the ground, and the effect is to spoil your playing through 
the green. 

Be sure that you begin the downward swing with the 
down fling of the wrists, and start easily ; the force is to be 
put in just before the club head swings onto the ball. If 
)ou put in all your power at the top, the swing degenerates 
into a jerky chop and the major part of the force is wasted. 

Let }'0ur arms, shoulders, and body follow the wrists in 
the order named. If the body gets in advance of the hands, 
}'0U will come down on the ball at an angle which means 
loss of distance, and probably a straight poke off to the 
right, or a slice. It is the same principle upon which the 
baseball batsman, who, striking just an instant too late, 
sends the ball to right field. (Distinguish carefully between 
these straightforward pokes to right or left, and the slice 
and pull. The former are the result of bad timing, or an 
incorrect stance; the latter are due to spin put upon the ball. 
In both pull and slice the ball starts off in a fairly straight 
line down the course, and the curve only comes in during the 
latter part of the flight.) 

Now, when the body comes properly into the stroke, the 
stance, at the moment of striking, will be precisely the same 
as that of the original address. 

In the play through the green I use the driver, or play 
club, as it would be called, whenever the He is at all good. 




BODY IN FRONT OF BALL CAUSING POKE TO RIGHT 



64 LESSONS IN GOLF 

Why not? The fact that the brassey face is laid back 
means that the ball is lofted higher in the air and, above a 
certain elevation, loss of distance is the result. So don't 
use your brassey unless the lie is heavy or you want a shot 
short of your full range. The low ball with a pull is the 
effective one for distance gaining, and, if you find you are 
driving or brasseying too high, it is not a bad plan to turn 
the nose of the club slightly over. 

I play all full shots with cleek or driving iron just as I 
do my wooden clubs. The only difference, that I know 
of, is that with a wooden club the shaft a t the very top_ Qf 
the swing falls into the web between the thumb and fore- 
finger of^theTighl; hand. As the "throw of the club" begins, 
the shaft goes back into its original position, i. e., into the 
finger grip. With iron clubs I hold the club in one position 
throughout, swinging a trifle shorter. 

I prefer to play all full shots to the value of the club. In 
other words, I take a full shot with an iron rather than a 
half shot with a cleek. 

The so-called push shot is a most useful one to learn. You 
lose a little in distance, but it is the only way of dealing with 
a bad lie. The ball flies on a low trajectory, has but little roll, 
and, when properly executed, gives one great control over 
the ball. 

To play it, the club, firmly gripped, is brought up rather 
straighter than usual, and you hit as though you wanted to 
drive the ball into the ground. The club head first hits the' 
ball, and then goes into the earth, cutting out a bit of turf 
immediately in front of the ball, never behind it. If you 
take the turf before the ball is struck the shot will be a 
failure. The right wrist turns over at the moment of im- 
pact, and you must be sure to carry the hands through and 
not hold back the left arm as in the regular swing. The 
chief difference between the push shot and the ordinary 
one is that the hands and left shoulder go through after 
the ball instead of swinging around. The push is a shot that 




FINISH OF JERK SHOT, SHOWING CLUB GOING INTO GROUND 
WHERE Bx\LL WAS 



66 LESSONS IN GOLF 

may be played with any club. The ball should be a trifle 
nearer the right foot. 

With the mastery of these two strokes the golfer should 
be able to play the long game respectably. There are what 
are called hanging lies, where the ball lies on a downward 
slope, and again the stance may be above or betow the level 
of the ball. These variations from the normal make the play 
more difficult, but I will not complicate it still further by 
giving you elaborate differences of detail in the swing. 
There is just one golden rule for all these contingencies, 
swing easily and take the ball clean. 



LESSON IV 

T^he Short Game 

There are many amateurs who can drive a fine ball off 
of the tee and even negotiate a full second shot in first-class 
style. But when they are called upon to approach the green, 
the weakness of their game is disclosed. It is in approach- 
ing (including the approach putt) that the professional 
player has the call upon the average "class" amateur, and 
I think this explanation lies in the fact that the professional 
realizes that his bread and butter depends upon his pro- 
ficiency in all departments of the game. Consequently he 
really works at getting up his approaching strokes, while 
the amateur is generally quite satisfied to be driving well. 
It is really the difference between play and work. A 
scientific golfer will tell you that he gets quite as much 
pleasure from the nicely graduated mashie shot or closely 
calculated long putt as he does from the two hundred-yard 
drive. Very true, and yet who would play golf if driving 
were eliminated from the game? Full, free hitting, where 
the player has only to think of keeping reasonably straight, 
and then getting as far as he possibly can, is the essence 
of golf, and nothing can take its place. But this is the 
play part of the game, and once the full driving stroke is 
acquired, its exercise makes no particular demand upon the 
thinking powers and nervous system of the player. We 
all like to swipe away at the ball; we enjoy the freedom 
of the stroke and the opportunity it gives us to put in every- 
thing we possess of strength and determination. If we can 
drive at all, we are proud of our success ; we never get 
entirely used to the pleasure of hitting that little sphere 
into space. A good golf drive is "a thing of beauty and a 
joy forever." 




A SIXTY-YARD MASHIE SHOT 



THE SHORT CAME 69 

But golf is not all play, and the long driver, pure and 
simple, will not win many matches. The ball must be placed 
finally in a hole four and a quarter inches in diameter, and 
it is evident that to accomplish this we shall have to abandon 
the pleasures of free hitting for the studious attention and 
masterful control upon which the success of the shorter 
strokes depend. In other words, we must think, we must 
study, we must be master of our club in all its moods and 
tenses. Mere distance, combined with tolerable directness, 
is easy enough, but now we must be really straight and 
just far enough. This last is work rather than play, and 
puts a severe strain upon both the mental and moral facul- 
ties ; the muscles are no longer allowed to disport them- 
selves in careless freedom, but must become trained and 
obedient to their task. 

Now, as I have said, the professional understands that 
he must be able to play the short game well if he is to reach 
the first flight, and so he is forced to work at the problem 
until he masters it. The ordinary amateur thinks that he is 
practising approaching when now and then, on an offday 
or for a few minutes before his match, he goes out on the 
course and plays a few "general" shots for the home green, 
with half a dozen long putts by way of good measure. 

Another reason for professional superiority in the quarter 
shot is that many "pros" are graduated from the caddie 
ranks. Now a caddie, particularly in this country, does not 
get many chances to play the actual game, but he can 
nearly always manage to command an old iron some- 
where, and balls may be picked up on the course. There is 
generally an unoccupied piece of green sward near the 
caddie shelter which he may appropriate for his own uses, 
and if the greenkeeper is good natured he will supply a 
discarded cup ; or an old tin can will serve almost as well. 
The consequence is that the embryo professional grows up 
with his approaching club constantly in hand — is "teethed 
upon it," as they say. He learns his short game from A to 



70 LESSONS IN COLF 

Izzard, and the knowledge is a most valuable asset in his 
niaturer years. The amateur, on the other hand, almost 
invariably begins by playing regular matches, and so never 
gets one-tenth of the approaching practise that his caddie 
puts in. Now, a first-class short game, with cjuite indif- 
ferent driving, will win every time against tremendous 
swiping and sloppy approach work. Finally, the profes- 
sional, as a class, is usually in better physical shape than the 
amateur ; he has fewer nerves and a less insistent imagina- 
tion. The delicate shots twenty yards away from the green, 
the tricky putt up to the hole — these are strokes that demand 
the utmost balance of body and poise of mind, and the 
amateur is apt to let himself get out of hand through sheer 
nervousness and a too realizing sense of his responsi- 
bilities. The perfect golfing machine should be one with- 
out nerves or imagination, and here is where the profes- 
sional scores. 

Enough has been said to emphasize the supreme im- 
portance of the short game ; let us now proceed to define 
it. What is an approach? In one sense, the short hole 
which we can reach from the tee, is an approach. It may 
be a driver or it may be a mashie which we use for the 
shot, depending, of course, on the distance ; the essential 
point is that it is possible to reach the green in one stroke, 
and we must therefore play for both distance and direction. 

But these tee shots for the green are, after all, quite 
simple. The ball is placed so as to give us every chance, 
and we have only to know what our normal distance is with 
the various clubs, and then make reasonable allowance for 
the wind. Really, we shall have no excuse to offer if we 
fail to get within putting distance. 

Again, we may say that we approach when a half brassey 
or a full cleek will land us at the hole side, but really the 
play differs but little from the ordinary course of the long 
game. We are still driving, and distance is a trifle more 
valuable than direction. 




HIGH LOFT WITH MASHIE OVER A CLUMP OF TREES 



72 LESSONS IN GOLF 

The actual zone of the approach shot begins, let us say, 
at a hundred and twenty-five yards from the green. This 
is a distance that everyone can negotiate after some fashion, 
with an iron club, and it is with our metal furniture that 
true approaching is done. 

You remember that when I gave you the list of clubs that 
you would need for your first essays I omitted the mashie. 
The reason I did so was because the mashie is a difficult 
club to master, and its practice should begin at the opposite 
end to that of the driving clubs — starting with the shortest 
possible stroke and working back. Full mashie shots are a 
dangerous form of amusement, since the increased amount 
of loft is very apt to hook the ball. Personally, I never 
play a full mashie unless I am a long way from the hole 
and it is absolutely necessary to loft the ball over some 
exceptionally high hazard, such as a clump of trees. 

The mashie, that is, a good one, is not an easy thing to 
find. The most popular model is that known as Taylor's, 
with a deep, broad face and a substantial sole. The quality 
of balance is important, and it is a mistake to buy a light- 
weight club. In these mashie shots the weight of the head 
has a good deal to do with the making of the stroke, and 
if your club is too light you will try and make up for this 
deficiency by forcing a little — striking too hard. The shaft 
should be perfectly stifif. 

Now, before we attempt any actual strok-e, I want to say 
a few words on the spin, a subject about which much has 
been written and which yet remains a mystery to many good 
players. 

We are already familiar with the spin to the right which 
produces slice, and with the corresponding spin to the left, 
which shows itself in the pulled ball. We know, too, that a 
straight ball from the tee may have either a direct over spin 
or a direct under spin. In the former instance, which is 
analogous to the follow-shot at billiards, the ball has a 
long run ; in the latter case the ball is inclined to rise or 



THE SHORT CAME 73 

tower near the close of its flight and falls comparatively 
dead. Finally, slice or a spin to the right is generally ac- 
companied by under spin, both of which tend to shorten 
its flight. The pulled ball, on the other hand, has both left 
hand and over spin and is the longest ball that can be driven. 




HOW NIBLICK BLADE STRIKES BALL UNDER THE CENTRE 

Now, all of these different spins from the play and 
driving clubs have a distinct influence upon the ball's flight, 
but their scientific use in the long game is a subject 
too advanced for these practical papers, and as I have 
already said, I am not sure that the "game is worth the 
candle" with the one exception of the pull. But when we 
come to iron play, we shall have to take them into account. 



74 LESSONS IN GOLF 

In the first place, I advise you to leave the cut or sliced 
approach severely alone. It looks very pretty to see a ball 
cut up to the hole side, falling on the green a little to the 
left and then sliding over towards the cup, but there are 
not many golfers who have really mastered the stroke so 
as to be able to use it at will. Moreover, since the cut is 
put on by drawing in the arms, it tends to get you in the 




now CLEKK BLAISE STRIKES BALL AT CENTRE 

habit of slicing other shots, and it is hard to get rid of the 
habit — slicing is the one almost universal vice. In my own 
game I am quite content to depend upon the simple over 
and under spins, and to play the ball straight. Better to 
have two shots that you can use than a bag full of fancy 
tricks which may fail you more than half the time. 



THE SHORT CAME 75 

We have, then, the two straightforward spins — the over, 
which corresponds to the follow at billiards, and the under, 
which produces in some degree the effect of the draw. 
How are these spins produced? 

My theory is that the quality of the spin depends almost 
entirely upon the amount of loft on the club. The mashie 
and niblick are laid back farther than any other club, and 
their natural tendency is to put an under spin on the ball. 
It is the lower half of the blade that first meets the ball, 
striking it below the centre. The consequence is under 
spin, or draw, just as in billiards. With the midiron, the 
driving mashie, and the cleek the blade is more and more 
upright, and it meets the ball at the centre line or a little 
above it. The consequence is the over spin, or the billiard 
follow-on. Normally played, the cleek drives a lower ball 
than the driving mashie, and the driving mashie gives a 
lower flight than the midiron. The difference depends on 
the amount of loft, and the less the pitch of the club the 
lower the trajectory. The iron putter, for example, is 
straighter in the face than any other club, including the 
driver, and it accordingly drives the lowest ball of all. 
An interesting confirmation of my theory is a putter brought 
out a few years ago in which the face of the blade was 
hung over the ball — the direct opposite of the ordinary loft. 
The theory was that it would strike the ball well above the 
centre and so put a forward or over spin upon it, and this 
is just what it did do. 

We have, therefore, over spin as the normal result of play 
with driver, brassey, spoon, cleek, and driving mashie. The 
midiron stands just upon the dividing line, and then come 
the mashie and niblick, producing under spin. With this 
theory established, we may go on to put it in practice. 

In the first place, for all half and quarter shots I believe 
in using the overlapping grip, with the thumb down on the 
shaft. (See illustration of this grip in Lesson II.) In all 
iron play, properly executed, more or less turf is taken, and 



76 LESSONS IN GOLF 

with the thumb on the shaft there is much less danger of 
the club turning in the hand. Again, we need the full power 
of the right hand to push the club through, and this can only 
be obtained with the thumb on the shaft and not curled 
around it. In the latter position the club is apt 'to fall into 
the web formed by the right thumb and right forefinger, and 
power, at a critical moment, is thereby wasted. Finally, 




LOOSE WRIST ACTION IN QUARTER SHOT 

the right thumb on the shaft gives us an easy and certain 
method of arriving at a half swing. It is impossible to 
make a perfect full swing with the right thumb in this 
position, and we have therefore an automatic preventive 
against overswinging with our irons. 

Once again we will distinguish in our approach work be- 
tween the shots played with a stiff wrist and those in which 



THE SHORT CAME 



11 



the latter are loosened up. With the flexible wrist the shot 
is what we may call normal, the club head hitting the ball 
in advance of the hands, and as a consequence the ball is 
sent into the air or lofted. With the wrists held stiffly, so 
as not to bend backward, the hands are in advance of the 
club head and the result is a low ball with plenty of run. 
Finally, if in this last stroke we allow both hands and left 




STIFF WRIST ACTION IN QUARTER SHOT 



shoulder to go out after the ball, instead of swinging round 
to the left, we shall produce the shortened form of the push 
stroke already described. These then are the essential 
principles of approach play — the right thumb down the 
shaft, the stiff or flexible wrists, and the hands, either kept 
behind the club or pushed through in advance of it. All 
modifications of the quarter game depend upon our knowl- 
edge and practical mastery of these principles. 




rOP OF SWING FOR CHIP SHOT ONTO THE GREEN 




THE CHIP SHOT. TAKING TURF AFTER THE CALL IS STRUCK 



80 LESSONS IN GOLF 

For the approach shot generally the mashie is the proper 
club, and we will now proceed to deal with its mysteries, 
beginning, as I have already said, with the shortest possible 
shot and looking back. 

Suppose the ball lies about twenty yards from the cup, 
with two or three yards of the ordinary course between us 
and the green. It is possible, of course, to run the ball up 
with putter or midiron, but I prefer to take a mashie and 
play what is called a chip onto the green. This is, perhaps, 
my favorite shot and, lying in this position, I am generally 
willing to back myself to hole out in two. 

For the stance the right foot is still farther advanced, 
as shown in the illustration, and the ball lies nearer the right 
foot. The swing back is quite short, as short, indeed, as 
you can make it, for it is the weight of the club head that 
is going to do the work. The grip is firm with both hands, 
and be sure that the right thumb is on the shaft and not 
around it. A little turf is taken with the stroke after the 
ball is struck, and the hands are not held back, but go out 
after the club. As the stroke is a hit in the strictest sense of 
the word, the follow-on is shortened up and the hands and 
club head are checked about a foot past the ball. Now, 
with a putter or driving iron, such a stroke would have 
over spin, and consequently a low flight and a long run. 
But, as I have already explained, the excessive loft of the 
mashie produces under spin, and the result is a low ball with 
a drag on it. Such a ball may be pitched from twenty yards 
away to within a few feet of the hole, and its run will only 
be long enough to take it up to the cup. 

There is great control over the ball in this modification 
of the jerk or push shot, and the tendency of the mashie 
to hook the ball is almost wholly nullified. The wrists, by 
the way, are kept stifif — not bent back — but, of course, they 
must work easily, and the grip, though firm, must not be 
rigid. 



THE SHORT GAME 81 

Be particular not to swing back too far ; if you do you 
will instinctively try to spare the shot and the result will be 
a failure. Be equally careful that both hands are pushed 
through with the impact, and don't imagine that you will 
have to put in some extra wrist action in order to get the 
ball into the air ; the loft on the club will attend to that. 

Now, if we play this identical shot with a jigger "(a jiggeF 
is nothing more than a lofted cleek), a midiron, or a driving 
mashie, we shall get the same results except that these other 
clubs will put on over spin instead of under spin, and the 
ball will run proportionately farther. Playing the stroke 
with the midiron it will be necessary to pitch the ball about 
half way and let it run the rest of the distance. 

This shot can be used for all distances up to the range of 
the half mashie, the only difference being that the club is 
taken farther back for the longer strokes. Moreover, it 
can be played with any iron club, remembering, of course, 
that all clubs, except a mashie or niblick, will give a run 
to the ball. With practise, you will be able to lay out a scale 
of distances for all your approaching clubs. 

Let us now turn to the wrist shot proper. In this stroke 
the wrists are not kept stiff, but allowed to bend back as 
far as they will go. The stance is the same for the right 
foot, but you may have the ball nearly half way between 
the feet. When the club comes through, the hands do not 
go after the club, but the left one is held back a trifle, just 
as in the driving stroke, and the left shoulder swings around. 
Not so much turf is taken as in the push shot. The ball 
will be lofted well into the air and, as before, it will have 
over or under spin according to the pitch of the club em- 
ployed. The usefulness of the wrist shot is, of course, to 
get the ball over whatever obstruction may be in the way, 
such as a cop bunker. If we want a short, high loft, with 
plenty of stop on the ball, we may take the niblick, but 
watch out for its tendency to hook the ball to the left. 
Moreover, in all shots with iron clubs it is advisable to hit 




82 LESSONS IN COLF 

with the toe rather than with the heel of the club head; 
otherwise we shall be continually hooking, foundering, or 
slicing our shots. 

Playing my normal game, I prefer the push stroke first 
described to the wrist shot, as I find it gives better control 
both for distance and direction. There are occasions, of 
course, when it is absolutely necessary to get the ball well 
into the air, as for example, when you are quite a way from 
the green and stymied by trees or high bushes. In this 
emergency I should play a full wrist shot with the mashie, 
so as to get distance, loft, and a dead fall. 

This, then^ is my general scheme of action for the ap- 
proach shot, and I admit that the theory looks almost too 
simple. There are scientific manuals on the game which 
make a great deal of the approach stroke, subdividing it into 
numberless variations, such as the three-quarters stroke 
with cut, the dead loft with the club laid back, and so on. 
I will acknowledge that if a man plays with only one club, 
say a midiron, it will be necessary for him to learn to 
use it in various ways to get the desired results. It seems 
to me a simpler plan to employ but the two strokes — the 
push and the wrist, and depend upon the particular club 
used for the minor variations. The requirements of the 
theorists are all very pretty on paper, but they require 
genius and a lifetime of practice for their mastery. My 
idea is to know less, but to know that perfectly. 

To recapitulate : The stiff wrist goes with the hands 
pushed through in advance of the club head, and the result 
is a low flying ball. The heavily lofted clubs — the mashie 
and niblick — put on under spin, which stops the ball com- 
paratively dead ; the other iron clubs put on over spin, which 
causes the ball to run. 

The wrist stroke proper is made with the wrists well bent 
back, and the club head goes through in advance of the 
hands, producing a high flight to the ball. As before, the 
heavily lofted clubs give under spin and the others over spin. 




A PUSH APPROACH WITH MIDIRON AT SIXTY YARDS 



84 LESSONS IN GOLF 

111 the rnnning-up stroke with the cleek or driving mashie 
the ball may be kept low and its running power increased 
if the wrists are kept extra stiff, the right one turning 
sharply over as the ball is struck. 

For approaches at long distances a spoon is an excellent 
club. The spoon is a wooden club, resembling the driver, 
but with a larger head and a face laid back as much as a 
brassey. The stroke may be either a push or a wrist. 

Remember, finally, that in playing anything short of a full 
swing with the irons you must keep your right thumb on 
the shaft and use the overlapping grip, as already described. 
The right elbow swings back close to the body just as in the 
full driving strokes, and the right hand is always in com- 
mand. Approaching is difficult and always will be, and it 
can only be mastered by hard and conscientious practice. 
Go out alone with nothing but a mashie and a half dozen 
balls and really work at the problem, and your trouble will 
be amply repaid in the lowering of your medal scores. 



LESSON V 

On the Green 

That putting is not so easy as it looks is a truism that 
every golfer finally establishes for himself. Who among 
us has not executed (in practice) feats of putting that have 
bordered upon the miraculous. Long putts, short putts, 
borrows, stymies — nothing was too difficult; we could not 
miss the hole if we tried. And then, the very next day, 
when we had that easy looking fourteen-inch dribble for 
the hole and match ! Ah ! we all know what that is. 

Of course, there are natural good putters as well as 
hopelessly bad ones. It is the tendency of the golfer, who 
takes up golf in middle life, to rather underestimate the 
value of putting. If he happens to be a "born" putter, so 
much the better, for he will thereby win a goodly proportion 
of his matches. But if he is poor in his work on the green 
he does not greatly care — it will be time enough to work 
up the putting after he has mastered the long game and 
becomes fairly steady in his mashie play. 

Now, I firmly believe that this point of view is all wrong. 
Putting is just as much a part of the game as driving from 
the tee, and even more important. The simple faculty of 
regularly holing in three, from sixty yards or so, will give 
a man a respectable rating on the handicap list, and I can 
safely assert that no player ever yet won an important 
championship whose putting has not been well above the 
average. Yes, and think of the many championships that 
have been lost, simply because the golfer happened to have 
an off day on the greens. And so I tell you to work at 
your putting as conscientiously as you do at the more 
amusing pastime of free swiping at the ball. It will well 
repay you. 



86 LESSONS IN GOLF 

I have spoken of "off" days in one's putting. That would 
seem to imply that the process of holing out depends for its 
efficiency upon something entirely outside of the player's 
self. It is true that we all have our moments of inspira- 
tion when the ball is certain to find a resting place at the 
bottom of the cup. It is equally certain that there are days 
upon which nothing seems to go right. Our approach putts 
are miles too short; our holing out is unaccountably off in 
direction. Despair overwhelms us, and we cannot putt 
at all. 

Of course, there is a philosophical explanation for these 
vagaries, and it all lies in one word — confidence. If we 
are sure that we can hole the ball, in it goes, and contrari- 
wise. If we had no such troublesome things as nerves and 
imagination, what phenomenal putters we could be! But 
the instant we get frightened we are all in, as the gentle- 
men of the prize ring say. 

It is obviously impossible to give a receipt that shall 
insure us the possession of that invaluable confidence when- 
ever we want it. It follows that if we do our putting in 
haphazard fashion and trust to inspiration and luck for 
success, Ave shall never get very far. There are not enough 
of these golden moments in a golfer's life to go round, and 
for the best part of the time we shall have to depend upon 
ourselves. In other words, we shall have to evolve some 
sound system of dealing with the ball on the green, and . 
learn it so thoroughly and practice it so faithfully that we 
may reasonably hope for, at least, an average percentage 
of respectable play. If we have some idea of how we are 
going to do a thing, we are a long way towards its ac- 
complishment, and while some good putters are born, the 
vast majority are self-made. Inspiration and luck — they 
will be welcome enough when they come, but they are not 
in the day's work. 

Good putting is possible under many systems' I give 
you the benefit of my own experience and if you can make 




LONG PUTT WITH PUSH 



88 LESSONS IN GOLF 

it yours, well and good. I can, at any rate, start you on 
the right road, and it will be your own fault if you leave it. 
Reduced to its simplest expression, effective putting depends 
upon absolutely true hitting, with a reasonable proficiency 
in distance judging. The latter comes largely through 
experience ; the former from strict attention to the busi- 
ness in hand. 

I am a great believer in saving myself strokes whenever 
I can. It is for that reason that I have taken so much 
pains to perfect myself in the very short approach, or chip 
onto the green, described in the previous chapter. What 
success I have had I ascribe, in large measure, to my being 
able to get the ball near enough to the hole, on the short 
approach, to insure me a fair chance of holing out on the 
next. I try to eliminate the long putt, so far as practicable, 
and nothing in golf politics pays so well. Two strokes on 
the green is Colonel Bogey's allowance; if you can cut 
those eighteen strokes down to twelve, you have the Colonel 
beaten and probably your flesh and blood adversary as well. 

To come down to practical definitions, I generally use a 
push stroke in playing the ball up to the hole. This is 
much the same sort of stroke as the very short approach 
referred to above. The club is held with a firm grip and 
the hands are in advance of the ball when the latter is 
struck. But do not stab at the ball, nor try to jerk it, or 
unsteadiness and failure are certain. This stroke is also 
good for holing out, particularly if the green be at all 
rough or heavy. 

The illustration will give you a general idea of my stance 
(although the latter is largely a matter of personal prefer- 
ence) and, as with all my other strokes, the right is the 
master hand. Both thumbs are down on the shaft. 

You will notice that I use a putting cleek, for American 
greens do not seem to favor the old-time wooden putter. 
The turf in this country lacks the smooth keenness of the 
seaside greens of Great Britain, and the ball seems to run 




ORDINARY PUTTING STANCE 



90 LESSONS IN GOLF 

better off the iron. There are very few Old Country pro- 
fessionals who still cling to their wooden putters in their 
American play. 

When the green does happen to be exceptionally true and 
fast it is advisable to put a back spin on the ball, particularly 
in the down hill strokes. To get this back spin it is neces- 
sary to hold the club with a decidedly loose grip and allow 
the hands to follow through freely after the ball. The 
principle is that of the draw at billiards — you will get 
no spin worth considering if your grip is tight and the 
stroke is nipped. 

The clubhead must meet the ball squarely and truly to 
make the latter run straight. The great difficulty is to keep 
one's attention on this point, and it is quite impossible so 
long as your mind (and perhaps your eye) is fixed upon 
the hole instead of on the ball. The plan usually recom- 
mended I believe to be sound. Stand behind your ball and 
pick out the line over which you intend that the ball shall 
travel ; then make up your mind how much strength will be 
necessary. If it is a long putt, of say fifteen feet, pick 
out some particular blade of grass, two or three feet from 
your ball and in the proper line. This will be the mark 
for which you are playing, and since it is so near you will 
not have to bother much about direction, but can devote 
all your energies to hitting the ball clean and with tlie 
proper degree of strength. For the holing-out strokes 
pursue the same tactics, but in this case your mark will 
be proportionately nearer the ball — say from six inches 
to a couple of feet. The idea is that you shall put the hole 
itself as much out of your consciousness as possible and 
thereby avoid the temptation of looking up too soon. This 
latter is the chief cause of all missed putts, especially the 
short ones. If you look up you will not bring the clubhead 
squarely into contact with the ball, and the consequence is 
a miss-hit, top, slice, or pull, as the case may be. 




PUTT WITH STOP 



92 LESSONS IN GOLF 

Some teachers recommend taking- the line from behind 
the hole to the ball, but I think that from the ball to the 
hole will give better average results. To try both methods 
and then endeavor to strike the mean between them will 
only confuse you. 

For running up very long approach putts, from off the 
green, the wooden putter is the club. But the proper 
conditions of comparatively smooth ground for the run-up 
are not often found in this country. On the sand greens 
or "browns" of Southern and Californian golf courses I use 
the push stroke with a putting cleek, even at long distances 
from the green proper. The lofted approach is useless on 
sand greens and, indeed, one must learn his putting all 
over again to perform creditably on the "browns." A ball 
runs truly on the good sand green, but the problem of 
strength is a very difificult one. 

We have been dealing with ordinary, plain putting on 
level greens ; we have now to consider the other problems 
connected with holing out. 

In putting on undulating greens we have the choice of 
two distinct methods of play. We may borrow — that is, 
allow for the slope — or we may play the ball straight for 
the hole and endeavor to counteract the roll by using pull 
and slice. Of the two systems, I unhesitatingly prefer the 
former, for the simple reason that a putting green is not 
a billiard table, and it is very difficult, indeed, to produce 
and control these side spins. Therefore, I think it better 
to borrow, playing the ball up on the slope and letting it 
follow a curved line to the hole. Of course, no more 
definite advice can be given ; the player will have to learn 
by experience how much to allow for the roll' of the ground. 

I have been asked if I favor stymie play, and I answer 
emphatically that I do. Stymies have always been played 
in match golf, and there is no real golf without them. Of 
course, there is luck and hard luck, too, in having a stymie 
laid you, but how about the lies through the green? More- 



ON THE GREEN 93 

over, there is some very pretty strategy to be employed in 
laying a stymie against the other chap. Of course, a player 
never tries to lay a stymie in preference to holing his own 
ball — that would be simply throwing away a stroke. But 
suppose you are playing your long approach putt and can 
only hope to lie dead. Your opponent's ball is, we will say, 
two feet to the left of the cup. Your play should then be 
for the left edge of the hole. If the putt does not go down, 
there is still a chance that it may stop between your ad- 
versary's ball and the "tin," making his holing out a diffi- 
cult problem. 

Again, your opponent's ball lies in a straight line to 
yours, but beyond the hole. You must be sure to hit your 
ball hard enough to overrun the hole by a few inches, and 
so lay the enemy a stymie. The same holds good when the 
two balls are in line and your adversary is nearer the hole. 
You are now stymied yourself, and it being a long putt, 
you have small chance of getting down. Be sure, then, 
to lay your ball dead and with the idea of getting the 
inside position for your ball, thereby reversing the original 
situation. 

This brings us to the several methods of negotiating a 
stymie when your ball is within possible holing distance. 
If the balls are not quite in line and the lie of the ground is 
at all favorable, you will try to screw yours around by 
putting on slice or pull. For the former, hit the ball off 
the heel of your putter, at the same time drawing the hands 
in. To pull, hit off the toe of the club and turn the hands 
over. These strokes are very pretty when they come off, 
but, of course, they call for very accurate striking and a 
most delicate grip. 

When the balls are so close together as to be almost 
within the six-inch limit and directly in line, the only play 
is the loft over. For this stroke the best club is a mashie- 
niblick, or a plain niblick. Hit accurately, smoothly and 
let the cliih head'do the zvork. 




CURLING AROUND STYMIE TO THE LEFT 




CURLING AROUND STYMIE TO THE RIGHT 



96 LESSONS IN GOLF 

There is one stymie that is virtually impossible. This is 
where your adversary's ball is in direct line and lying on 
the edge of the cup. Some golfers try to play this shot on 
the principle of the follow at billiards. They hit their own 
ball on the top to induce forward spin and play it hard and 
directly upon the obstructing ball. The theory is that the 
impact will drive your adversary's ball clean over and 
beyond the hole, while yours follows on and drops in. Very 
pretty, but in the vast majority of cases it is your oppo- 
nent's ball that is holed, while yours remains outside. Golf 
balls are not made of ivory, and you cannot play billiard 
tricks with them with any degree of certainty. Better to 
try and loft your ball cleanly into the hole, unless you have 
two for the half, when it would be the part of wisdom to 
Ignore the stymie entirely and merely play to lay yourself 
dead. 

Enough has been said about the stymie to show that 
there is some very real play connected with it, both offensive 
and defensive. The golfers who. oppose the stymie are 
generally card-and-pencil players who care more for their 
miserable score than they do for the match. Such persons 
would undoubtedly like to see tablecloths laid in all the 
bunkers to save themselves strokes. Let us have the rigor 
of the game, gentlemen. 

It is a common practice among players to bar stymies in 
friendly matches. Now, so long as the stymie does remain 
a part of the game it ought to be played, and golfers 
aspiring to national tournament honors will need all the 
practice they can get in this line. I believe that the 
U. S. G. A. has formally ruled that in the championship 
meetings, held under its direction, contestants may not 
exclude stymies by mutual consent or otherwise, and players 
generally should feel bound to conform to this official 
attitude of the ruling body. 

Giving of putts in friendly matches is also an objection- 
able practice. In medal play contests all putts must be holed 




LOFTING A STYMIE 



98 LESSONS IN COLF 

out and the golfer who gets in the habit of giving and 
receiving short putts may very Hkely fall down badly in a 
qualifying round. Either he forgets and picks up his ball, 
or he actually misses one or two baby putts, and so loses 
confidence. 

The giving of a short putt is, of course, intended as a 
courtesy, but curiously enough the practice has led to some 
exceedingly mean and underhand play. The following- 
case is not uncommon ; it may almost be called typical : 

A has an eight-inch putt for the winning of the hole. He 
wonders whether B intends to give him the putt, as has 
been their practice up to this point, or not. On this par- 
ticular occasion B says nothing and A, a trifle disturbed in 
mind, plays and misses. It is clear that B has deliberately 
taken a psychological advantage of A by withholding, at a 
critical moment, a customary courtesy or privilege, or what- 
ever you like to call it. 

But this sort of dishonorable strategy goes even further. 
A has the same eight-inch putt for the hole. "You can't 
miss that, I suppose," says B, and half turns away. A is 
naturally undecided as to what B's words may mean. . Is 
A expected to hole out or not? He plays and misses. 
"What !" explaims B, "did you miss that? I get a half, then." 

It is perfectly evident that under these circumstances A 
should have immediately picked up his ball and claimed the 
hole. B's remark was tantamount to giving up the hole, 
and should have been so taken. But A might have objected 
and disclaimed any intention of giving up the hole. 

The particular point I want to bring out is that unpleasant 
misunderstandings are always possible unless all putts are 
holed as a matter of course. If you want to present your 
opponent with a win or a half, say explicitly : "Your hole," 
or pick up his ball and hand it to him. 

There is a little point in green play clearly defined in the 
rules, but which few golfers seem to know. Supposing 
your opponent's ball is lying in a precarious position on the 




LOFTING A STYMIE 



100 LESSONS IN GOLF 

lip of the cup and you hole out for the win or the half. 
You have then the right to immediately knock his ball 
away from the hole, thereby preventing its possible follow- 
ing in through the agency of the wind or otherwise. This 
is a small thing, but upon occasion it may mean the match. 



LESSON VI 

Getting Out of Difficulties 

In a former lesson I referred briefly to play through the 
green, where the ball is on a hanging lie or either above or 
below the player. I said then, and repeat it now, that the 
chief essentials are accuracy and an easy swing, but I may 
add a word or two upon the proper stance and swing for 
these variations from the normal. 

When the ball is lying on an uphill slope, and consequently 
above }'ou, the tendency is to hook it badly. It will help 
you to play straight if you stand a little farther from the 
ball than usual, swinging very easily. 

When the ball lies on a downhill slope, or beneath you, 
the tendency is both to slice and to fall forward as the club 
comes through. Stand well behind the ball and slightly 
turn down the nose of your club. The swing should not be 
more than a three-quarters one. 

When the ball is on a hanging or downward lie (in the 
direct line of play) the stroke should be well off the right 
foot. In other words, stand more in front of the ball than 
usual, the left knee very firm and the right one compara- 
tively loose. The grip, too, should be light, or you may 
poke the club into the ground. For all these shots I prefer 
a spoon, this last being a wooden club a trifle shorter than 
the driver and laid back like a brassey. It has no brass sole 
plate and is consequently a better balanced club than the 
ordinary brassey. Referring again to the push stroke, which 
is largely used when the ball is in a shallow cup or moder- 
ately bad lie, the tendency is to stiffen the shoulders and 
tighten up the grip. This is quite wrong. The grip should 
be decidedly slackened, so as to take the jar off the wrists 
and permit the putting on of back spin. It is excellent 




STANCE FOR BALL LYING ABOVE YOU 




STANCE FOR BALL LYING BELOW YOU 



104 LESSONS IN GOLF 

practice to learn this stroke by playing balls out of a shallow 
bunker in which the sand is loose and yielding. You will 
have no fears for the safety of the club shaft or injury to 
your wrists, and the stroke can be brought off in proper 
fashion. 

When the ball lies in a deep rut there is nothing to do 
but to take your niblick and pound at it. It is generally 
advisable to follow the rut. Indeed, the great principle of 
all play out of bad lies is to get out. Make up your mind 
that you have lost one stroke and are only trying to place 
yourself in position for the next one. You have lost one 
stroke ; don't lose two. 

In getting out of bunkers the older authorities advised 
hitting into the sand behind the ball, the distance being pro- 
portional to the looseness of the sand. It is hardly worth 
while bothering over such niceties ; take the sand as close 
to the ball as possible and let the grip be loose and flexible. 
Sometimes you will find the ball cocked up in a bunker, 
teed, as one may say. In such case it is advisable to stand 
well behind the ball so as to clearly catch it on the up swing 
cvS the club comes through. It is very easy to foozle even 
so simple a shot as this appears to be by taking sand. Note 
that this is exactly the reverse situation to the ordinary 
bunker play in which the ball lies in a heel point or is half 
buried. 

In playing out of long grass take the heaviest club in 
your bag, preferably a mashie-niblick, and bang away. 
The stroke is more on the straight up and down order, for 
all that you expect to do is to get back on the fair green, 
and with the usual long sweep back the club has to fight its 
way through that much more obstruction. 

The wind is a difficulty that must always be reckoned with 
on a seaside course, and even the inland ones have their 
share of stormy weather. There are scientific golfers who 
make much of their ability to use a wind, putting or slicing, 
as the case ma}- be, and the theory is a plausible one. In 




BALL IN A RUT 




PLAYING OUT OF A BUNKER 




PLAYING OUT OF LONG GRASS 



108 LESSONS IN GOLF 

practice? Well, for the beginner, it is enough if he can 
hit cleanly and straight. A high wind always exaggerates 
the effect of a spin, and I have already given my opinion 
that the deliberate cultivation of a slice is a dangerous 
thing. 

When the wind is coming from the right you may safely 
play well into it, turning the wrists over at the moment of 
impact so as to get a little pull. As the latter begins to take 
effect the wind will then keep it along in the general direc- 
tion of the hole. 

In a left hand wind you would theoretically play again 
well into its eye with a slice. But I say, don't slice inten- 
tionally under any circumstances. Aim a little farther to 
the left and try for a perfectly straight ball. 

With the wind dead against you, you naturally want a 
low ball. To get it you should play well off the right foot, 
and the hands may be allowed to come through a trifle in 
advance of the club head. With a following wind, stand 
well behind the ball, so that you may pick it up as the club 
head begins to rise. You want to get it well into the air 
so that the wind may exert its full force upon it for the 
longest possible time. 

A ball in water is played as though it were in a sand 
bunker. Don't be afraid of the splash. 

Generally speaking, a golfer looks upon bad lies as being 
more difficult than they really are. The irresistible inclina- 
tion is to stiffen oneself and hit a little harder than usual. 
We all know the fallacy of this proceeding, but, nevertheless, 
we continue to pursue it. There is only one cure, and that 
is to regard the ball in difficulty as having lost for you one 
complete stroke. If you can reconcile yourself to this, you 
will not attempt much more than to put your ball in position 
for the next stroke; you will play easily and well within 
yourself and the results will be correspondingly favorable. 
After a while you will find that you are getting more distance 
as well and the bad lies will have lost most of their terrors. 




STANCE FOR WIND DEAD AGAINST PLAYER 




PLAYING OUT OF WATER 



LESSON VII 

Advice to Incurables 

There are golfers — plenty of them — who the more they 
play, the worse they play. They have read all the books, 
they have taken lessons from all the teachers within reach, 
and still they cannot achieve a respectable game ; and by this 
I mean long game, which is the same thing in the minds of 
most of our middle-aged amateurs. If they could only drive 
decently, they would be pretty well satisfied, even though no 
single piece of prize pewter ever graced their sideboards. 
For these unfortunate gentlemen I have a word, and I trust, 
an enlightening one. 

In my experience as a teacher I have had to deal with 
some desperate cases, considered from a medical golfer's 
standpoint, and I have learned to recognize the more com- 
mon and deadly forms of disease. These I reduce to three, 
for while there are other minor ailments, they are not 
absolutely fatal ; they do not prevent the golfer from 
achieving something that resembles a game. 

For instance, a player finds great difficulty in getting his 
ball well into the air, particularly on the brassey shots, so- 
called. He hits hard and the ball sails, but time and again 
it is so low that it fails to clear the distant hazard. On 
other occasions it is the plain ordinary "top" that reduces 
him to despair. 

Now, it is more than probable that the whole trouble is 
due to the fact that this golfer has never got it into his 
head that the club must get down to the root of the ball. 
He has been looking at the top of the ball and telling 
himself that the club must take the ball with such marvelous 
cleanness that the ground is not touched in the slightest. 
Consequently, he is always hitting the ball a bit above the 




RISING ON LEFT TOE AND SWAYTNG r.OnV 



ADVICE TO INCURABLES 113 

belt, which means a low trajector\\ If he is not quite so 
accurate as usual, a "top" follows as a matter of course. 

The cure in this case is ridiculously easy. The player 
has only to get down to the ball and matters will quickly 
right themselves. 

Again, there are golfers who are naturally inept at all 
forms of outdoor sport. Hand and eye do not work accu- 
rately together, and they are just as bad shots and billiard 
players as they are golfers. 

For this class, the general or constitutional treatment is 
their only hope. And this general treatment is simply hard, 
continuous and conscientious practice. Hand and eye must 
be trained to work in unison, and practice is the only possible 
way of bringing this about. A player who labors under this 
natural disadvantage is never likely to become absolutely 
first-class ; but he may obtain a respectable position on the 
handicap list, if he thinks it worth the price. All depends 
upon himself, provided, of course, that he has not acquired 
any of the two or three deadly sins that make all golf 
impossible, and which I will take up further on. 

Minor faults are legion and may be dismissed from the 
present discussion, for the simple reason that they are not 
permanent disorders of the golfing system. They are not 
organic, but functional disturbances, and left to themselves 
they run their little course and disappear. Nature is the 
healer in these cases and the cure is best left to her. 

Keen, intelligent men who like to think of the game as a 
science and who try to play it as such, are all the time falling 
into mannerisms and tricks of style, which temporarily may 
improve their game — sometimes to a remarkable degree. 
"Now we have it at last," they say, "and it is all in a stiff 
left wrist. Keep the left wrist like a poker, my boy, and 
you have the secret of golf." 

Well, they go on playing with an abnormally rigid left 
wTist and really accomplish great things. They would do 
quite as well if they were to tighten up the right wrist 




FALLING BACK, WEIGHT ON RIGHT FOOT, CAUSED BY PULLING 
CLUB WITH LEFT HAND 




WRONG BENDING OF LEFT WRIST 



instead of the left^ for their whole success Hes in their 
confidence that they have discovered the one thing that 
makes golf. By and by two or three strokes go wrong. 
The player tightens up his left wrist still more (and inci- 
dentally his whole body as well) and begins to press in order 



116 LESSONS IN GOLF 

to recover his momentarily departed form. Of course, 
there is a general smash-up, despair, a casting about for 
another theory, a new discovery, and the whole business 
over again. 

Let us treat these poor theorists tenderly. Their ambi- 
tion is a noble one, and they are always the keenest of golfers 
and the best of sportsmen. Golf could not do without them 
any more than they could do without golf. All I can say 
is to warn them that the first business of a golfer is to hit 
the ball, and no system, no theory, no great and inner secret 
can do that for you. Clean hitting is the foundation upon 
which everything else is builded. 

Coming now to our subject proper, there are three mis- 
takes in particular against which I desire to warn you. So 
long as you persist in these vital errors you will never be a 
player, and you must first learn to recognize the symptoms 
before proceeding to cure the disease. 

Rising on the left toe, at the same time keeping the left 
knee stiff, is a virulent and common disorder of the golfing 
system. The inevitable result is that the player is unable to 
see the ball, unless he sways his body over to the right and 
out of the correct vertical position. 

The cure is simple. Let the left knee relax and turn in 
towards its fellow. You will then be able to swing the body 
around in the correct vertical plane and the ball will remain 
comfortably in sight. The left heel leaves the ground when 
it gets ready to do so and not before. Let it be clearly 
understood that swaying the body to the right is absolutely 
destructive of good golf, and that if you stiffen up your left 
knee this same swaying is the inevitable consequence. 

Another chronic disease shows itself at the end of the 
swing, where the player falls back, thereby depriving his 
stroke of a large percentage of its power. The difficulty 
here is that the body has not entered properly into the swing. 
As the club head goes through the weight is kept upon the 
right foot instead of being transferred to the left heel, and 




OVERSWING (at TOp) 




A BAD FINISH 



ADVICE TO INCURABLES 119 

the player is obliged to fall back in order to keep his balance 
at all. 

As I figure it out, the difficulty arises from the fact that 
the player tries to pull the club through with his left hand. 
That allows the right shoulder to drop and so the weight 
is kept back on the right foot and the body cannot come 
through. The player who adopts my theory about the right 
hand and forearm being always in command, will not be 
troubled by this tendency to fall back. The right shoulder 
will be kept up, the weight will be transferred to the left 
foot, at the proper moment, and the full power of the player's 
body will be thrown into the stroke. It follows that golfers 
who hold to the generally accepted theory that the golfing 
stroke is principally made with the left are in especial 
danger of getting into the falling back habit. . 

The last, and perhaps the worst of the ills to which golfing 
flesh is subject, is the wrong bending of the left wrist. 
Study the illustration which shows the incorrect position 
and then compare it with the true wrist action, as depicted 
in several of the photographs of the earlier lesson chapters. 
Then take your natural swing and, holding the club in its 
horizontal position behind your neck, step up to a mirror 
and look at your left wrist. Never mind about the right 
one; that will take care of itself; it is the left one whose 
position is important. 

Now, if it is bent, as shown in illustration for this lesson, 
you will have to get it put right, or give up all hope of ever 
becoming even a passable golfer. Neither power nor 
accuracy is possible unless the wrists work freely and 
naturally, and in the common error illustrated above they 
could not be less free, or more unnatural. 

There is a cause, of course, and in the great majority of 
cases I diagnose it as due to the pushing out of the left 
elbow as the club goes back. If I am right, the remedy is 
equally obvious — keep the left elbow in and let the wrist 
turn towards the body so that you can see the full back of 




SCOOPING THE BALL WITH MASH IE 



ADVICE TO INCURABLES 121 

the left hand. This ensures the proper wrist action and adds 
immensely to the power, speed and accuracy of the stroke. 

There is little more that can be said, in a general way, 
for the benefit of golfing- invalids. The best plan is, of 
course, to see a physician personally, since nearly every 
case calls for special treatment. All I have endeavored to 
do is to describe, as clearly as I can, the more common of 
the really dangerous maladies, so that you may be able to 
recognize them and apply the simple household remedies I 
have suggested. 

As a rule, shorten up your swing when you fall into a 
streak of bad play. It is a common fallacy that the longer 
the swing, the longer the ball driven by it; and yet experi- 
ence is constantly teaching us that that is by no means the 
case. Into the long, loose swing all kinds of golfing heresies 
may creep quite unnoticed and unfelt; then their deadly 
work begins and we are undone. Curiously enough, with 
the long, loose swing we are very apt to tighten up the 
grip, and that means pressing with its usual consequences. 
The sick man in golf must play well within himself, if he 
wants to regain his wonted health, and this advice applies 
with particular force to the convalescent. We all go off 
our game now and then; but if it is essentially a sound 
one, and we are willing to let Nature take her time about 
it, she will work the cure. 



> 



A PICTURE GALLERT 

The interesting- point about this series of pictures is the 
absolute uniformity of the style displayed. The different 
strokes are all relative developments of the same basic 
principles. The golf is "all of a piece," and the logical 
result is the fine game. 



124 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE DRIVE. TOP OF SWING 
The position of the left arm is important. Note that it is 
kept virtually straight, insuring a long, wide sweep of the 
club. The common and easy way to get the club to a 
horizontal position back of the head is to bend the elbows 
and draw in the hands. But then the swing will necessarily 
be short and too straight up and down. In the true swing 
the left arm is kept extended and the club is brought to the 
top of the swing through the proper action of the wrists. 







^^iE^^?'-^ 



THE DRIVE. TOP OF SWING 



126 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE DRIVE. FINISH OF SWING ^ 

(side view) I 

Observe that the body is not straining towards the hole ; 
there is no suggestion of the player's throwing himself after 
the ball. The weight is solidly poised on the left foot and 
the position of the body is vertical. The right shoulder is 
well to the front and the right foot, balanced upon the toe, 
shows how full and free has been the facing about of the 
player. Note the club head, hanging like a pear upon its ^ 
branch, just as it did at the top of the swing. 




the drive. finish of swing 
(side view) 



128 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE DRIVE. FINISH OF SWING 
(front view) 
Following- the finish around, we are struck by the com- 
parative straightness of the arms. Evidently they have been 
extended at full length throughout the swing and particularly 
so in the follow-on. The grip of the left hand has relaxed 
so that the club may swing the more easily behind the 
player's back. Both elbows have been kept low, meaning 
that the swing has been a powerfully concentrated one. 




THE DRIVE. FINISH OF SWING 
(FRONT view) 



130 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE DRIVE. FIXISH OE SWING 
(back view) 
The finish is perhaps an unusually low one, and the posi- 
tion emphasizes the compact nature of the swing. The 
rigidity of the left leg is evidence of the power and control 
of the stroke ; the "let-go" of the right leg and foot be- 
tokens its grace and freedom. Some players have, a "broken 
finish," the club dropping at a limp angle from the wrists 
instead of being brought around the back. This does not 
afifect the power or accuracy of the stroke, but it is certainl\- 
not a pretty style. Here control is kept throughout. 



1 




HE l)kl\l-:. FINISH OF SWING 

(back view) 



132 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE CLEEK. ADDRESS 
The thumb of the right hand is around the shaft, not 
upon it. Note that the hands are kept rather low and that 
in consequence the toe of the club is slightly tilted up and 
off the ground. This is necessary in all iron play, for if 
the toe of the cleek or iron takes the ground first it is very 
apt to dig in and spoil the stroke. The arms and club 
shaft should not be in the same plane so as to form one 
straight line. The right knee is kept rigidly stiff. Unless 
this is done the body has a fatal tendency to sway to the 
right. 



1 




THE CLEEK. ADDRESS 



134 LESSONS IN COLF 



THE CLEEK. TOP OF SWING 
The left shoulder and elbow should be kept well down ; 
otherwise the left shoulder would foul the chin when the 
club swings up. This is true, of course, for the swing with 
any club. The left knee has bent well in, and this is the 
important point in the correct pivoting of the body about its 
vertical axis. Beginners are apt to be concerned only with 
the lifting of the left heel. That will take care of itself. 
Note that the weight is almost entirely on the right leg. 



1 



i 




THE CLEEK. TOP OF SWING 



136 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THECLEEK. FINISH OF SWING ■ 
(side view) 
It is worth noting that the position of the left foot is 
virtually the same as in the address. There are good golfers, 
for example, Mr. Findlay Douglas, whose left foot, at the 
finish, will be found to point directly at the hole. But a 
player of this type crouches at the end of his stroke. The 
upright position and the immovable left foot likewise go 
together. It is an interesting difference in stvle. 




the cleek. finish of swing 
(side view) 



138 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE CLEEK. FINISH OF SWING 
(front view) 
The full front view of a finish is not a usual point of 
observation ; certainly not a very safe one. It is, however, 
an instructive object lesson on the value of poise and balance. 
The golfer who falls back at the end of his stroke, as well 
as he who lurches forward, robs himself of a good proportion 
of power. The inside edge of the left foot is the proper 
pivot for the back swing rather than the toe ; and in the 
down swing the outside edge acts as a check on the outward 
flow of the body. Note that the right shoulder is kept well 
up as it swings around. Otherwise the ball is apt to be 
foundered. 




the cleek. finish of swing 
(front view) 



14t)-^ LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE CLEEK. FINISH OF SWING 
(back view) 
There are players who always finish a full stroke by 
taking a step, or even a short run after the ball. Unless 
this is a natural idiosyncrasy, the result is probably a slice, 
the shoulders entering too freely into the stroke. Note that 
the club does not come quite so far around as in the full 
drive with a wooden club. Also, that the left elbow is drawn 
in close to the body, evidence that the arms have been fully 
extended. The left elbow, in particular, does not begin to 
bend until the follow-on is completed. 




the cleek. finish of swing 
(back view) 



142 LESSONS IN COLF 



THE IROX. TOP OF SWING 
The club has not gone back so far as hi the fuU drive and 
full cleek. Moreover, it has been taken up a trifle straighter. 
All iron clubs have a tendency to pull the ball, and the 
greater the loft the greater the hook. Consequently, the play 
should be more on the straight up and down style, the club 
being taken over the shoulder instead of around its point. 
It is a good principle of iron play to never take more than 
half a swing, since forcing means disastrous pulling. If 
you want greater distance, use a more powerful club. 




THE IRON. TOP OF S^^■IXG 



144 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE IRON. FINISH OF SWING 
(side view) 
The left knee is a trifle bent as compared with the finish 
with driver and cleek. This is probably consequent upon 
the swing being more on the up and down variety. Note 
again that the finish corresponds to the top of the swing in 
that the club rises above the shoulder instead of swinging 
around it. 



I 




the iron. finish of swing 
(side view) 



146 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE IRON. FINISH OF SWING 
(front view) 
A noteworthy feature is the unusually short grip on the 
shaft. In this case the iron happens to have a shaft of extra 
length, and the grip is taken so as to secure the best balance. 
Naturally, every player will vary this to suit himself and 
the club that he is using. It is worth remembering, however, 
that the tendency to pull may be corrected by gripping the 
club with the left hand at the extreme end of the shaft. 
This, at least, is the theory of Willie Park, one of the finest 
cleek and iron players in the world. 




the iron. finish of swing 
(front view) 



148 LESSONS IN COLF 



THE IRON. FINISH OF SWING 
(back view) 
The hands are raised higher than in the finish with the 
full driving- clubs. This is the natural result of the club 
swinging over the shoulder. In all other respects the atti- 
tude and poise of the body is the same. One of the cardinal 
principles of a good style is that every stroke is, broadly 
speaking, modeled on the same general lines. 




the iron. finish of swing 
(back view) 



t 



150 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE MASHIE. ADDRESS 
The right foot is well advanced and the ball is relatively 
nearer to it. The right thumb lies along the shaft, instead 
of being curled around it. It is not a bad plan in mashie 
play to aim with the toe of the club. Otherwise the slightest 
falling forward, in the down stroke, will result in the ball 
being hit off the heel. Pulling is almost inseparable from 
mashie play and in an approach of say fifty yards an allow- 
ance of three yards is often necessary to compensate for 
the hook. 



( 




THE MASHIE. ADDRESS 



152 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE MASHIE. TOP OF SWING 
The up swing is relatively shorter and the wrists are not 
bent so much as in the driving- strokes. This is the fullest 
swing that should ever be taken with a mashie, for accu- 
racy and judgment of distance are more important than 
length. The left arm is kept as straight as possible, practi- 
cally the same as in the address. The left heel has hardly 
left the ground and the body has not made more than a 
half turn to the right, the hips being kept under firm control. 



I 



I 




THE^MASHIE. TOP OF SWING 



154 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE MASHIE. FINISH OF SWING 
(side view) 
The shorter the chib, the shorter the up swing and the 
shorter the finish. Here again quite a piece of the shaft has 
been allowed to extend beyond the grip with the idea of 
securing a perfect balance. The bend in the left knee also 
corresponds to the same position in the finish with the iron. 







-,^,-mm^ 










g^^ *I8P|^| 






^M "^rii J 






^p^fl| 






^K^^^l 






Ip^^I 






^^m 











the mashie. finish of swing 
(side view) 



156 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE MASHIE. FINISH OF SWING 
(front view) 
The interesting feature of this picture is the position of 
the right wrist. It has been turned well over, signifying 
that it has taken the master part in the stroke. Incidentally 
the turning over of the right hand helps to keep the ball 
low and adds distance to the stroke. Compare the finish of 
the drive with wooden club and cleek. Also note the close- 
in position of the left elbow. 




THE MASHIE. FINISH OF SWING 
(FRONT view) 



158 LESSONS IN GOLF 



STANCE AGAINST THE WIND 
The ball is nearly opposite the right foot, and if anything, 
the club head should be turned a trifle in. The grip with 
the right hand is exceptionally firm, since what is wanted is 
a low ball with a slight pull on it, thereby insuring a long 
run. In the down stroke the hands are slightly in advance 
of the ball. 




STANCE AGAINST THE WIND 



I 



160 LESSONS IN GOLF 



STANCE FOR BALL BELOW THE PLAYER . 
The straddle is unusually wide, for the great difficulty 
lies in maintaining the balance, the tendency being to fall 
over the ball. Also, the knees are more bent than in the 
regular address and the right foot is well forward. This 
is perhaps the most difficult of all lies to negotiate success- 
fully. Badminton's advice is to swing quietly ; let the club 
(not the body) follow on the ball, and hope for the best. 




STANCE FOR BALL BELOW THE PLAYER 



62 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE NIBLICK. THE ADDRESS 
Remember that the chib cannot be soled in a bunker and 
that consequently increased accuracy, in aiming is necessary. 
The stance should be fairly wide, for it is slugging power, 
pure and simple, that we want. The orthodox practice is 
to hit an inch or so behind the ball, the exact distance varying 
with the nature of the sand. A shortened grip is advisable 
as making for accuracy. 




THE NIBLICK. THE ADDRESS 



164 LESSONS IN GOLF 



THE NIBLICK. THE FINISH 
The stroke has carried everything away with it and here, 
if ever, the man of exceptional physical powers has the 
advantage over the merely scientific player. Note that the 
feet are still solidly planted on the ground, the natural conse- 
quence of the wide straddle. The extension of the left arm 
is also interesting. The club has gone into the sand and the 
stroke is finished. If it had been a regular finish, the elbows 
would now begin to bend as the club swung up over the 
shoulder. As it is, the stroke has ended with the follow-on. 




THE NIBLICK. THE FINISH 



CHAPTER I 

History of the Golf Ball 

Everybody knows that the original golf ball was made of 
leather stuffed with feathers, but few golfers of this 
generation have ever seen a specimen of the old-time 
handicraft. The accompanying illustration gives a fair idea 
of its appearance, and Mr. H. T. Peters, a St. Andrew's 
veteran, has given the following account of the ball in the 
making : 

"The leather was of untanned bull's hide, two round 
pieces for the ends and a piece for the middle, being cut to 
suit the weight wanted. These were properly shaped, after 
being sufficiently softened, and then firmly sewn together, a 
small hole being, of course, left, through which the feathers 
might be afterwards inserted. But before stuffing, it was 
through this little hole that the leather itself had to be 
turned outside in (so that the seams should be inside), an 
operation not without difficulty. The skin was then placed 
in a cup-shaped stand (the worker having the -feathers in 
an apron before him), and the actual stuffing done with a 
crutch-handled steel rod, which the maker placed under his 
arm. And very hard work, I may add, it was. Finally the 
aperture was closed and firmly sewed up, and this outside 
seam was the only one visible. When I say this, I, of course, 
refer only to new balls. Veterans showed the effects of 
service in open seams with feathers outlooking, and on a wet 
day the water could be seen driven off in showers from a 
circle of protruding feathers as from a spray-producer. A 
ball perhaps started as a 'twenty-eight' and ended a 
'pounder.' Consequently a new one had to be put down at 
every hole if the match was an important one." 

In spite of its shortcomings there was nothing better than 
the "feather"' ball, and it held the field alone for an odd 



68 



LESSONS IN GOLF 



century or so. And then, in 1848, a formidable rival 
appeared. Sir Thomas Moncrieff, an ardent and ingenious 
lover of the sport, conceived the idea that golf balls might 
be made of gutta percha, and having secured a piece of 
the raw material, he gave it to Willie Dunn, of Musselburgh, 
and asked him to make the experiment. The lump of India 
rubber was roughl)- fashioned into shape and given a fair 
trial, but it would not fly. It would start away from the 
club all right, and then suddenly "dook," or pitch downward. 
Nobodv could account for these erratic movements, but the 




A FEATHER B.^.LE 



fact remained that it could not be driven, and it was then 
contemptuously thrown away. 

The legend goes on to say that the caddies began to 
play with the discarded ball, for want of anything better, 
and as they hacked away at it with their irons they made a 
curious discovery. The more the ball was cut up, the better 
it flew. The experiments were renewed, and some one 
suggested that the ball should be nicked into lines with a 
shoemaker's hammer. This was accordingly done, and with 
the happiest results ; the flight was now all that could be 
desired, and the davs of the feather ball were numbered. 



THE COLF BALL 



169 



It was some time, however, before the battle was finall}^ 
decided in favor of the new ball. Allan Robertson was 
bitterly opposed to the innovation, on the very reasonable 
ground that his "feather" ball business would be ruined if 
the "g-utty" came into general use. For the time being he 
tried to check the rising tide by buying up all the gutta 
percha balls that he could find and destroying them. And 
yet, ten years later, we find him making his famous 79 over 
the old St. Andrew's course, and using one of the very balls 
that he had done his utmost to discredit. 





GUTTA PERCHA BALLS 



It is generally supposed that the gutta percha ball ousted 
its rival on the strength of its longer carry. But "Old Tom" 
Morris seems to think that the carry of the two balls was 
much the same, and certainly a well-made "leather and 
feather" ball went off very sweetly from the club. It was 
simply the cjuestion of durability, and, above all, the 
difference in price, that turned the scale. A "feather" ball 
cost three and sixpence, while the gutta percha could be 
turned out at a shilling. The life of a "feather" ball was 
not long at the best, and a heavy "top" in a bunker was 
liable to extinguish it at any time. Finally the "feather" 



170 



LESSONS IN GOLF 



ball was at a severe disadvantage in wet weather, for it 
quickly absorbed moisture and became sodden and over- 
weight. No wonder, then, that the "gutty" carried the day. 
For a number of years golf balls were moulded in a 
smooth press, and then nicked by hand into the familiar 
geometrical patterns. Some of the workmen became very 
expert in their art, the lines being nicked with almost mathe- 
matical exactness. But of course this extra labor added to 
the cost of the ball, and finally all gutta percha balls were 




HAND HAMMERED BALLS 

moulded and scored by machinery, and in a single operation. 
In the old days, feathers are said to have been weighed 
by troy weight, though nobody can pretend to give the 
reason why. Naturally the same convention was continued 
when the gutta percha ball was introduced, and a "twenty- 
seven" ball was supposed to weigh twenty-seven penny- 
weights troy. As a matter of fact, the numbers referred 
rather to the size than to the weight of the ball, and the 
latter might vary (in different makes) by as much as two 
pennyweights. But the diameters, as gauged by the accu- 
rate modern moulds, were nearlv alwavs uniform. The old 



I 



THE GOLF BALL 171 

hand-hammered ball seems to have been a heavier ball, size 
for size, than the gutta. 

The "composition" ball was the next step. The material 
of which the "compo" balls was made was always kept 
secret, but india rubber, glue, sawdust and other ingredients 
were used. The once well-known Eclipse ball was the 
earliest of the "putties," as they were christened, and for a 
time it threatened to displace the "gutty" altogether. Its 
great merit was its indestructibility. It could stand any 
amount of hard pounding without vital injury, and all that 
it needed was a new coat of paint from time to time. But 
it could not be driven so far as a "gutty," and it was almost 
impossible to get it to lie dead upon a green that was at 
all keen. It finally died a natural death. So also the 
"Maponite," which had a brief run of favor. 



CHAPTER II 

l^he Golf Ball in Action 

What is it that makes a golf ball fl_v through the air? I 
use the word "fly" advisedly, for a well-driven ball looks 
"and behaves like a living thing. A ten-inch shell is hurled 
through the air ; a base ball is hammered through space ; but 
it is only the golf ball that really flies. We have all watched 
and admired the inexplicable way in which it suddenly 
unfurls its invisible wings and proceeds to float along as 
though the law of gravitation had been temporarily laid off 
duty. Anybody can see for himself that a golf ball stays 
longer in the air than we have any reason to expect; but 
why ? 

Several years ago Professor Tait of Edinburgh con- 
tributed two articles to London Golf on this interesting- 
subject, and his theories seem to fit the facts with remarkable 
precision. 

It is a matter of common observation that a well-hit ball 
leaves the club head at a comparatively low angle of tra- 
jectory, and then almost immediately begins to soar as 
though it were entirely independent of gravitation. It floats 
along as though it was made of thistle down instead of solid 
giitta percha, and its path for nearly half the total range 
of carry is concave npzvards. 

We know by practical experiment that a well-struck golf 
ball will remain in the air for as long as six seconds. Now, 
assuming that a non-rotating sphere is projected at an in- 
clination of one in four and remains in the air for six sec- 
onds, it must (the air's resistance being as the square of the 
speed) attain a range at the very least of four hundred 
yards. If there were no air resistance, the range would 
be nearer eight hundred yards. Now, no such carries are 



THE GOLF BALL 173 

ever achieved in actual practice, and the conckision follows 
that the ball which takes six seconds or so to travel must 
have some form of buoyancy or levitation. 

Of course the longer a projectile stays in full flight, the 
farther will be the distance covered, and the ballooning-like 
propensity of the golf ball is the means by which it is 
enabled to defy the deadly pull of gravitation. The ball 
must have time in which to travel. Having determined the 
value of this featherlike buo}-ancy of the well-hit golf ball, 
we naturally wish to know how it is produced. Professor 
Tait says it depends entirely upon the speed of the ball's 
rotation, but this rotation must be the result of direct under- 
spin. Without underspin a ball to carry 250 yards would 
have to leave the club head at a velocity somewhat greater 
than that of sound. It is eas}- enough to put the wrong kind 
of spin upon the ball, but then, instead of a good, we achieve 
a marvelously bad drive. A poor drive may be sliced or 
heeled or topped, the consequent deflection being to the 
right, to the left, or downward. A good drive is undercut 
only, and as there are three chances to one against our 
putting on the right kind of spin, it is not so remarkable 
that the bad drives should outnumber the good ones. It is 
rotation, then, that produces deflection from the true line of 
flight, and that this is often considerable may be shown by 
watching the course of a badly sliced ball. Professor Tait 
has calculated that a ball driven off an elevation of one in 
four, with such speed as to carry 136 yards /'/" not rotating, 
would carry 180 yards if, other things being equal, it had 
underspin of only half the rapidity of that due to ordinary 
slicing. "Hence," concludes the Professor, "the problem 
of long carry is much more a question of underspin than of 
anything else. It is the 'raking' drive that gives the longest 
carry." 

Professor Tait subsequently confirmed the truth of his 
theories by a series of practical experiments. A ball attached 
to a long piece of untwisted tape was repeatedly driven into a 



1 74 LESSONS IN GOLF 

mass of clay at a short measured distance, and as a result 
the tape was invariably found to be twisted, and in such a 
manner as to indicate vmderspin. It was also shown that 
clubs with rough striking surfaces gave a perceptible in- 
crease of rotation to the ball ; and indeed every player knows 
by experience that his driver heads must occasionally be 
roughened up in order that they may get a grip upon the 
"gutty." 

The mathematical problems entering into the flight of the 
golf ball are really very complicated, but we can at least 
understand that the ball rotates in the air, and that this 
rotation is set up by the impingement of the club head upon 
the surface of the ball. Here comes in the efficacy of the 
lines, or mouldings. The ordinary idea seems to be that it is 
the resistance of the air, acting upon these lines, that causes 
the sphere to revolve. This is entirely erroneous ; the spin 
is imparted by the club alone, and the markings simply assist 
it in getting hold of the ball. 

The practical deduction from all this seems to be that 
underspin is necessary in good driving, and that to put it 
on the ball must be struck a trifle below the belt and with a 
free follow-on, after the fashion of the draw-shot at billiards. 
If the cue is checked from going freely through, the amount 
of "draw" is perceptibly reduced, and the same is true of 
golf ball and play club. Finally, the run of a topped ball is 
long, as compared with its carry, and this is due to its 
overspin, which takes marked effect at the instant of impact 
with the ground. Conversely, a ball with underspin will be 
retarded upon reaching the ground, but the loss is very 
slight, and carry is much more important than roll. 



CHAPTER III 

^he Rubber Cored Ball. The Pneu?natic Ball 

It was in the late nineties that Air. Haskell, an enthusi- 
astic amateur of Cleveland, Ohio, conceived the idea of im- 
proving upon the "gutty," by making a radical change in 
construction. The familiar baseball was built up from a 
small solid core upon which yarn was wound, and then a 
cover over all. Why not the same with a golf ball, using 
rubber thread under tension, instead of yarn in order to get 
the extra resiliency required. At all events the idea was 
worth trying, and as Mr. Haskell had an intimate friend in 
the manufacturing rubber business, the opportunity for 
experimenting was at hand. 

Pretty soon reports began to come out of the West con- 
cerning a new kind of golf ball. It could be driven to an 
incredible distance — three or four hundred yards, and, by 
its aid, the veriest tyro could leave the best "gutty" player 
hopelessly in the rear. It was something wonderful, mar- 
velous, superhuman. 

But the new ball had one marked disadvantage — it soon 
wore out under the impact of the club, and would crack and 
go to pieces. After a while the inventor succeeded in over- 
coming this fault, at least for practical purposes, and the 
ball was placed on the market. Curious persons, who cut 
one open to see how it was made, found a small bullet-like 
core of rubber, wound with tightly stretched rubber thread 
and covered by two shells of gutta percha. The balls pre- 
sented an attractive appearance, and when dropped on a 
hard pavement they would rebound to an amazing height, 
and certainly they drove farther than any gutta ball ever did. 

But in practice it was quickly discovered that the ball's 
flight could not be depended on. It would start all right and 



176 



LESSONS IN GOLF 




then suddenly swoop down to earth in the most disappointing 
manner. Apparently this weakness was irremediable, and 
the few players who had been experimenting with the "Has- 
kell" quickly dropped it; the new idea seemed a failure. 
The ball was still on the market, but nobodv would buv it. 



THE GOLF BALL 



177 



This was in the late summer of 1900, Afr. TTaskell having- 
taken out his first patent in 1898. 

Nearly a year later the Onwentsia Club of Chicago gave 
an open tournament, and among the contestants was Mr. 
William Waller, a well-known amateur of the clay. He had 
been making some experiments with the "Haskell,"' and the 
thought occurred to him to score the "Silvertown" marking 




THE ANATOMY OF THE HASKELL BALL 

with a file, so as to make the lines deeper. He tried it, and 
the balls flew perfectly. It was the story of the "gutty'' 
over again, and the whole trouble was that the surface of 
the sphere was too smooth ; the lines not deep enough to 
let the club grip the ball and put on the underspin necessary 
to regular and sustained flight, and that even when projected 
with underspin the spin w^ent for nothing. 




THE ANATOMY UF THE HASKELL BALL 



1 78 LESSONS IN GOLF 

]\Ir. Waller confided his discovery to a few of his friends, 
and they procured a box of "Haskells" and a file and set 
to work. It was the night before the tournament, and there 
was no time to repaint the file-marked balls. They had to 
be used as they were, with most of their original painting- 
rubbed off, and were promptly dubbed "nigger" balls. But 
how they did fiy ! Alen who were known to be short drivers 
with the solid ball performed prodigies with the rubber-cored 
article, and before the tournament was over the "nigger" 
ball had created a profound and enduring impression. The 
Western golfers took it up to a man and confidently expected 
that by the aid of the new ball the amateur championship, 
to be played in September, 1901, at Atlantic City, would 
be won by a Western man. 

But the fame of the "nigger" ball had traveled eastward 
and reached the ears of Air. Devereux Emmet, a member of 
the Garden City Club and a close friend of Mr. Walter 
Travis. j\Ir. Emmet, who was taking a week of golf on the 
Ekwanok links in Vermont, bought some "Haskells" and 
tried the file treatment. Finding that it worked, he imme- 
diately sent some of the balls to Mr. Travis at Atlantic 
City, with a letter begging him to give them a fair trial. 
Mr. Travis did so and found that the new ball not only drove 
well, but was admirably suited to his particular style of put- 
ting. This was the day before the tournament began, but 
once convinced, Mr. Travis had the courage to use the new 
ball in his play. As everybody knows, he won his second 
championship, and the cup did not go across the Alleghenies. 
although a Chicago man, Mr. W. E. Egan, also playing with 
a "Haskell," was the runner-up. ( )f course, this brilliant 
triumph made the success of the rubber-cored ball, and the 
next season all American golfers were using it. 

The British players affected to sneer at the Yankee inno- 
vation, but the new ball would not be denied. Mr. Charles 
hlutchings won the British amateur championship of 1902 
with a "Haskell," and even English prejudice could not 



THE COLF BALL 179 

stand up before such a demonstration. \\'ithin a couple of 
seasons the "gutty" took its place in golfing museums along 
with the "feather" ball, and the triumph of the "Haskell" 
was complete. 

Of course the inventors on both sides of the Atlantic now 
went to work to improve on the new idea. One American 
inventor took out no less than seventy-odd patents — varia- 
tions upon the original principle. There were rumors of 
suits and counter-suits for patent infringements, and finally 
a coalition of interests — the so-called golf ball trust. 

A rubber thread wound under tension was the basic 
feature of the "Haskell" patent, and the validity was upheld, 
at least by the American courts. So inventors tried their 
hand in other directions. Strange freaks were produced — 
balls made of celluloid or even of steel, but none proved 
successful. 

About four years ago the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Com- 
pany, of Akron, Ohio, appeared in the field with what they 
called the "Pneumatic," patented by Addison T. Saunders. 
Its construction w'as beautifully simple. It consisted of a 
hollow retaining chamber of gelatine and india rubber, sur- 
rounded by a wall of wound cotton thread and covered by a 
shell of rubber compound. Into this air was forced up to a 
pressure of several hundred pounds, and the ball was 
finished. 

It looked like a good thing, and the ball had a fair trial. 
But it was quickly demonstrated that while it was an admir- 
able ball for approaching and putting, and virtually inde- 
structible, yet it did not fly so far as the "Haskell," when 
used by an average player. A really hard-hitting "pro" 
could get the distance out of it, and machine tests proved it 
theoretically equal to the rubber-cored ball in point of flight. 
But in actual work, the ordinary amateur had to play the odd 
and, of course, he dropped it like a hot stove plate. Xo 
golfer lives who can bear to see even a yard taken ofif his 
ordinary drive. 



180 LESSONS IN GOLF 

The "Pneumatic" had failed to catch on, but the principle 
was sound, and the Goodyear company continued its experi- 
ments. Finally, in 1906, they solved the problem with the 
"Silk Pneumatic." In this model the ordinary thread was 
replaced by silk winding, enabling the internal air pressure 
to be brought up to 1,200 pounds. This increased resiliency 
added to the driving power of the ball, while preserving its 
•admirable qualities for the short game. 

During the season of 1906, Alex Smith, professional of 
the Nassau Country Club at Glen Cove, Long Island, ac- 
complished the brilliant feat of winning in succession the 




SILK PNEUMATIC ]!ALL 

Western Open Championship, the National Open, and two 
Eastern professional events, using the Silk Pneumatic ex- 
clusively. A more conclusive proof of the playing quality 
of the new ball it would be impossible to offer. 

In considering the virtues of the "Silk Pneumatic," it is 
certain that in driving power it is fully equal and even a 
shade better than any of the rubber-cored variety. This 
refers, of course, to play by the average amateur who does 
not hit so hard, as a rule, as does the professional player. 
Moreover, the "seating quality" of the ball keeps it an 
appreciably longer time in contact with the club head, and 
this means increased underspin and more accuracy in direc- 



THE GOLF BALL 181 

tion. In mashie shots it must be struck a little harder, in 
proportion, than the rubber-cored ball. This is a distinct 
advantage, as it favors the putting on of "stop" or "cut." The 
same thing holds true on the greens. It can and must be hit 
a trifle harder, and in tliis respect it more nearly approaches 
the old gutta percha balls. Now every golfer knows that 
the harder you hit a putt, the straighter it will run. On a 
keen green, or a rough one, this advantage is ecjually incon- 
testable. On a keen green the rubber-cored has to be hit 
with a delicate precision well nigh impossible to attain ; on a 




CROSS SECTION OF PNELniATIC P.ALL 

A — Gelatine Film. B — Soft Rubber Jacket. C— Wall of 

Wound Thread. 1) — Cover. 

rough or frozen one it is apt to "bobble." Players who take 
up the "Silk Pneumatic," after using the rubber-cored, 
naturally find some difficulty in getting used to the new stvle 
of putting demanded, but all that is necessary is a little 
practice. A slightly heavier putter is of assistance. It is 
easier to go from the rubber-cored to the "Silk Pneumatic" 
than vice •versa. Of course, one cannot, consistentlv, plav 
with both interchangeabl}-. 

The construction of the "Silk Pneumatic" is an interesting 
subject. There is a little bag of gelatine film which fills the 
office of the air retaining chamber. This is enclosed in two 



182 LESSONS IN GOLF 

hemispheres of soft rubber, and then wound with the finest 
quaHty of silk thread until it presents the appearance of A. 
Upon this is placed the cover of india rubber, the shells being 
thoroughly cemented at their point of juncture. A hollow 
needle is then inserted into the center of the sphere, and 
the air pressure of 1,200 pounds is introduced. This 
enormous pressure consolidates the several parts of the ball, 
amalgamating the gelatine film with the soft rubber casing, 
the rubber with the silk winding, and the whole core with the 
shell. Cut open, the ball presents the appearance shown in 




THK GREAT STRENGTH OF PUREST FINE SPUN SILK IS REQUIRED 
TO RETAIN THE 1 ,200 LBS. AIR PRESSURE 

the cross section — a perfectly consolidated and almost homo- 
geneous mass. 

It follows that the ball must be always perfectly centered 
and that the wall is of the same thickness throughout. The 
gelatine being impervious to air, it is impossible for the 
pressure to fall. The cover cannot be cut or ga.shed nor 
pounded out of shape ; under the hardest and longest of 
usage it retains its perfect sphericity. The ball ma}- be 
played with until the paint is completely knocked off, when 
it should be cleaned and repainted, and is then as good as 
new. In time, of course, it may be literally worn out, when it 
collapses harmlessly. Needless to say, its ordinary life is at 



I 



THE GOLF BALL 183 

least six times longer than that of any of the rubber-cored 
variety. 

From an entirely unprejudiced standpoint (and moreover 
that of an amateur) the "Silk Pneumatic," in both theory and 
practice, would seem to be the last possible word in golf ball 
construction. The best and the cheapest; can more be said? 

The 1907 ball is a highly livelier ball than the model of 
1906, and will consec[uently drive farther when used by a 
comparatively easy hitter. It is one of the advantages of 
the pneumatic system of construction that the playing 
qualities of the ball may be varied to suit individual require- 
ments. The extra lively, the regular and the old style 
"Pneumatic" (if one prefers a comparatively dead ball) — 
within these extremes every golfer may find the ball to his 
liking. 

Prophecy is cheap, but it looks as though the "Silk Pneu- 
matic" is destined to remain a permanent success. It is the 
survival of the fittest. 



34.77-2 



